Dilip Chitre
1938–2009 · Indian poet, critic and filmmaker, also a painter
Dilip Chitre (Baroda, 1938 – Pune, 2009) was one of the foremost Indian poets and critics to emerge after independence. He wrote in both Marathi and English, and also worked as a teacher, magazine columnist and filmmaker. Painting is among his activities, although the available sources document very little of his work in that field.
Born into a Marathi-speaking family, he moved with his parents to Bombay in 1951. He was among the most influential figures of the Marathi little magazine movement of the 1960s, and his first collection of poems appeared in 1960. His modernist poetry deals with exile, alienation and death in an ironic tone and with a cosmopolitan outlook. He translated Tukaram and Dnyaneshwar into English, and in film he directed documentaries and one feature film.
His legacy lies mainly in poetry and in the promotion of Indian literature. He directed the Indian Poetry Library at Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal and convened a world poetry festival in New Delhi in 1985. He died in Pune in December 2009, after a long illness.