M. R. Acharekar

Murlidhar Ramachandra Acharekar was an Indian artist and film art director who worked predominantly in Hindi cinema. He was born on November 14, 1907, in Bombay. Acherakar graduated from Kelkar Institue of Art, and then, he studied for a diploma in painting from the Maharashtra government. Then to master the art of painting, he studied at the Royal College of Art in London for two years. He was a well-celebrated and immensely successful painter, especially in the field of portraits. In 1932, Acharekar was commissioned to paint the historical event of the inauguration of the Round Table Conference by his late Majesty King George V of the United Kingdom. Then in 1935, he was commissioned to paint the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of King George V in London.

Acharekar stepped into art direction with Mahesh Kaul’s cinema Naujawan in 1951. Then he moved to work under R K Films with the movie, Awara. The movie was a massive hit, and Acherakar was appreciated for his visualizations. He has worked for R K Films for many years and a few of the films he worked on include, Bewafa(1952), Ashiana(1952), Aan(1952), Boot Polish(1952), and many more. In 1957, he received his first Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction for the movie, Pardesi. He later received two more Filmfare Best Art Direction Awards in 1959 for Kaagaz Ke Phool, and in 1960 for Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai.

He worked at J J School of Art, Bombay, for three years as the Deputy Director and later served as the Principal of the Academy of Art, Bombay. In 1968 he served as the President of the Cine Art Directors Association of India, Bombay. He wrote the book, Rupadarsini, An Indian Approach to Human Form. He held the first one-person show of his watercolor paintings at Jehangir Art Gallery in 1961. He has also conducted numerous exhibitions in India as well as in London. Acherekar was honored by the Government of India with Padma Shri in 1968. The legendary artist died on 1979.