Nanasaheb Shendkar

Thakaram Mahadu Shendkar (Born 1 June 1955), popularly known as Nanasaheb Shendkar, is an Indian Art Director who has created Art related Exhibits and Exhibitions in India.

Shendkar was born into a family of 150 members, primarily into farming, in Lonimawla village of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra where he studied till the 7th standard in the village school. He started developing an inclination towards arts and developed hobbies of sketching, painting and making different things out of Mud and was encouraged by his teachers as well. Digressing from the traditional family occupations of Agriculture, farming and Wrestling, Nanasaheb decided to make his career in the field of Arts which was met with a lot of resistance from the family. With no support from the family, it took extra efforts at a very young age for Nanasaheb to complete his education. Selected for Junior College post SSC, his passion for art still pushed him to prefer to appear for the Drawing Intermediate Exam. After clearing the exam Nanasaheb completed his education from JJ School of Art, Mumbai. So was his love for art that he worked night shifts at a factory to pay for his education while at JJ School of Arts.

Shendkar did variety of jobs during his education. He brought a new style and innovation in regular works like Painting Umbrellas with attractive designs, Calligraphy and making banners and Shop Titles. His innovations have been followed and used by various artists for years. He passed JJ School of Art in First Class. This was the time he had an opportunity to meet Prof. Kashinath Salve and Art Director Raghuveer Talashikar and he started working in the theatre industry under his guidance. Further, Nanasaheb worked in the film industry with renowned names and producers like T. K. Desai, Ramesh Sippi, Devanand, Ketan Anand, Manmohan Desai, Mukherjee Brothers and Sushma Shiromani. From the film Suhaag till Lootmaar he has successfully fulfilled the responsibility of erecting sets for about 20-25 films.

Nanasaheb started a factory in the year 1975 manufacturing different products from Thermacol. The factory employed close to 70 workers. Use of Themacol for decoration, painting, designing and sculpting over thermacol, creation of molds and casts to build pillars, temple structure like the temple crown or "Kalas/Ghumat" have been a few innovations by Shendkar.

Thermacol is a non-degradable material. Also since thermacol is a very inexpensive commodity, there was no mechanism whatsoever to recycle and re-use thermacol. Due to this the thermacol that is used in decorations during festivals becomes part of garbage and get collected in rivers and water bodies resulting in pollution. Taking this issue into consideration and with his love towards nature, Nanasaheb decided to shut down the Thermacol manufacturing unit in the year 2001. With his innovation, he started working on manufacturing Eco Friendly Makhar (Decoration for Lord Ganesha) made out of paper or cardboard and soon got them in the market. He erected a “Hawa Mahal” of 21 feet made completely out of paper and standing stably without any additional support. To instill the culture and tradition in the next generation he started taking free workshops in schools and distributing free material to thousands of students. Devotees of Lord Ganesha not just in Maharashtra, but across India as well as abroad have connected with him and shared their support for this initiative. Through Kasturi Display and with rigorous efforts and innovations of about 10 years Nanasaheb developed the Modular Science System for Exhibitions and Advertising for the first time in India and manufactured and exhibited this system in India as well as in countries like the United States, Dubai, Germany and Sri Lanka. For his contribution in the area of eco-friendly decoration, he has been awarded by various television channels like DD Sahyadri as well as E-TV Marathi and Colors Marathi. He formed the Utsavi Trust and the inauguration of the first exhibition of Utsavi Trust was done in 1995 at the hands of Bal Thackeray.

On the Centennial Year Celebration of Ganesh Utsav Nanasaheb donated 1000 "Abdagiris" (a traditional structure used to protect kings and royal members from sun during a procession) and donated them to various “Ganesh Mandals". He also decorated the well-known Siddhivinayak Temple, apparently he had also designed the model for the temple.