Noted actor, director Mushtaq Kak passes away

Jammu, Nov 19: Eminent theatre actor, director and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Mushtaq Kak passed away on Sunday after a prolonged illness. He was 62.
His Namaz-e-Janaza was held this afternoon at Sidhra where he was laid to rest at the nearby graveyard.
Born to a Kashmiri father and Dogra mother in 1961, Kak carved a niche for himself in the theatre-scape of J&K and later immensely contributed in the field of cinema and television even at the national level.

According to his family, Kak, after fighting a long battle with Cancer, breathed his last early this morning at his residence.
A multi-faceted personality, Mushtaq Kak received several awards honours for his contribution and these awards also included Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2015 for theatre direction. He was associated with Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi as the artistic director.

He also received the best director award for “Andha Yug”, “Malika”, and “Pratibimb”. Of his plays, “Maha Brahmin” and “Alladad” were adjudged best plays for the years 1999 and 2000, respectively. He directed more than 100 plays, including those based on short stories by Saadat Hasan Manto, Anton Chekhov, Vijay Tendulkar, Krishan Chander, Sharad Joshi, Vasant Kanetkar and Moti Lal Kemmu. Kak also worked in some of the popular movies of Indian cinema between 2007 and 2022. Some of his movies included Amal (2007); Hijack (2008); Sikandar (2009); Vishwaroopam-I (2013); Dishoom (2016); M S Dhoni: The untold Story (2016); Vishwaroopam II (2018); Romeo Akbar Walter (2019); The Family Man (2019); Shikara (2020); Kesari (2019) and Tejas (2023).
People associated with film, television and stage have expressed grief and sorrow over his death.
The artists of Natrang have also condoled the sad and untimely demise of Kak.
Director Natrang, Padma Shri Balwant Thakur expressed his sorrow over this tragic loss and asserted that this created a huge vacuum in the theatre scenario of the country.