Panjab University Vice Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover on Monday said that the University would celebrate birth centenary year of renowned theatre director, novelist and founder-director of the PU Indian Theatre Department, Balwant Gargi. The open-air theatre at the PU Indian Theatre Department is named after Gargi whose students include Anupam Kher, Kirron Kher, Satish Kaushik, Poonam Dhillon, and many other Bollywood stars.
Grover said that Gargi was not only a distinguished Punjabi language dramatist, theatre director, novelist and short story writer, but he was also a great academician, who gave huge contribution as the founder director of Indian Theatre. The University has formed Balwant Gargi birth centenary committee for the centenary commemoration. National and state level events would be planned in this regard, he added. A day before, noted filmmaker-lyricist Gulzar was appointed as 'Tagore Professor of Indian literature' at Panjab University. The appointment was approved by the PU syndicate, the institution's decision-making body, on Sunday.
Established in 1882 in lahore in Pakistan, PU is one of the oldest universities in the country. It was re-located to its present sprawling campus in Chandigarh's Sector 14 and 25, in 1956 after partition in August 1947.