Mahesh Elkunchwar is a highly acclaimed Indian playwright and screenplay writer who writes in Marathi with more than 20 plays to his name, in addition to his theoretical writings, critical works, and his active work in India's Parallel Cinema as actor and screenwriter.

The film versions of his plays Holi, The Party both directed by Govind Nihalani & Sonata directed by Aparna Sen (in which Ms. Dubey did one of the leads too) have been much acclaimed and his other plays have also been directed by some of the countrys finest directors.

Today along with Vijay Tendulkar, he is credited to be one of the most influential and progressive playwrights not just of Marathi theatre, but also of Indian theatre at large.

In 2014, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour in performing arts in India.

He is the recipient of several other awards too including the Saraswati Samman and the Kalidas Samman and the Sangeet Natak Akademi award amongst others.