Snehalata Reddy

Snehalata Reddy (1932 – 20 January 1977) was a theater actor, Kannada film actress and a social activist, who was imprisoned during the Emergency in India.

She was the co-founder of the Madras Players in the 1960s, the amateur group that staged memorable productions like Ibsen's Peer Gynt, directed by Douglas Alger, besides Twelfth Night and Tennessee William's Night of the Iguana, directed by Peter Coe. Besides, she acted in, directed, or produced plays such as A View from the Bridge and The House of Bernarda Alba.[1]

Snehalata was married to Pattabhi Rama Reddy, the noted film director. She is noted for her roles in Kannada film Samskara, which won the National Award in 1970 and Sone Kansari, which was released in 1977 after her death.[1][2] [2] [3] [4][5]

Snehalata and her husband participated in anti-Emergency movement. Snehalata was close friend of George Fernandes and was arrested on 2 May 1976[6] for being in touch with him. She was arrested for being a part of Baroda dynamite case, however, while George Fernandes and many others were made accused in the case, Snehalata's name was not in final charge-sheet. However, she was tortured and was confined to live inhuman conditions in prison at Bangalore, where her health deteriorated and was released on parole on 15 January 1977. But she died five days later due to chronic asthma and lung infection and on 20 January 1977, being one of the first martyrs of Emergency.[7][8] [9][10][11] Madhu Dandavate, who was also in same jail where Snehalata was imprisoned writes in his memoir, he could hear the screams of Snehalata from her cell in silence of night[12]

In 2003, her husband Pattabhi Rama Reddy presented - In the Hour of God, a play based on Sri Aurobindo's classic Savitri, inspired by the mythical woman who defied death for love, which he dedicated to Snehalata Reddy.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3
  2. 1 2
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy By Ramachandra Guha. 2011. p. 506.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ A Prison Diary. Snehalata Reddy Human Rights Committee, Karnataka State, 1977 -. pp. 15–22.
  8. ↑ Experiment with untruth: India under emergency. Michael Henderson South Asia Books. 1977. p. 48,51.
  9. ↑ Himmat - Volume 13, Issues 1-26. 1976. p. 180. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Wall Tappings: An International Anthology of Women's Prison Writings, 200 to ... edited by Judith A. Scheffler. 2002. p. 311. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ Dialogue with Life By Madhu Dandavate. 2005. p. 89.
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