Draft:Omendra Kumar Verma

Omendra Kumar Verma is an Indian actor, script writer, and theatre activist.

Early life and family
Kumar was brought up in a middle-class family. His father, Anand Swarup Verma, was an Ayurveda Acharya. His mother, Shanti Devi, died a week after Verma’s marriage. He has two older brothers and one sister. His elder brother also had some interest in Theatre. In 1994, Verma married Nisha Verma. She helped him a lot and supported him a lot in his Theatre career. She still handles the work of Anukriti Rangmandal. He has three children. His daughter, Disha Verma, works with Lalit Kala Akademi.

Started Theatrical journey with the foundation of a cultural group namely 'Playgroup' Kanpur in the 80s and staged play 'Ardhangini' with its writing & direction. With the intention of the revival of theatrical activities, Kumar reconstituted the IPTA Kanpur unit in 1982 which was lying almost dead. During the struggle period, he came into contact with legends like Kaifi Azmi, Rajendra Raghuvanshi, Jitendra Raghuvanshi, Dr. Mulkaraj Anand, Harbanas Singh, Dr. Hemlata Swarup, Prof. Ram Nath Mishra, Purushottam Kapoor, Lalit Mohan Awasthi, Veprakash Kapoor, Govind Vidyarthi, which changed the direction of his life. He directed several plays including Kamla, Madhavi, Ladai, Kisi ek phool ka naam lo, Tilottama, Saiya Bhaye Kotwal, Akaal, Ek Tha Gadha alongside Numbers of Theatre l festivals and so many theatre workshop organized in association with IPTA till 1988.

Education
He has completed Post Graduation in sociology Shri Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University Kanpur. Kumar also studied Post graduate diploma in Journalism from IGNOU New Delhi.

Career
In 1984, with the aim of bringing parallel cinema to the masses through the Film Society movement, he established Indian forum of progressive films at Kanpur center under the patronage of famous filmmaker/director Journalist Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. Women's Film Festival (1987 Kanpur/1990 Dehradun), Screening of Shyam Benegal's films in 1995 & several seminars and discussions were prominent activities of the forum.

He conducted a Directional Workshop in March 1991, Organized a workshop with renowned theater artist Brij Mohan Shah, Director National School of Drama,

Sponsored by Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lucknow. Kumar conducted a Film Appreciation Workshop from 24 to 31 July 2010 Kanpur University/Kanpur University Organizer: Film and Television Institute of India, National Film Archives, Pune). With the establishment of a new theatre company ' Anukriti' in August 1988, an Inaugural play based on Uttar Pradesh folk style 'Baje Dhindora' urf 'Khoon ka Rang' was staged at Kanpur & Nainital.

Journalism
From 1980 to 2011, Kumar was independent columnist in Dharmyug, Madhuri, Inadu, Navbharat Times, Sandhya Samachar, Swatantra Bharat, Rashtriya Sahara, Amar Ujala India Today, Vanita, Natrang, Chhayanat and Dainik Jagran, of various subjects of art, culture, cinema & TV. From 1997 to 2011 he worked as regular journalist in Dainik Jagran, Kanpur.

Acting
In 2011, 'Anukriti' Kanpur was granted status of Repertoire (Rangmandal) by the Indian Ministry of Culture. This was the first establishment of any Repertoire in Kanpur.

Notable theatrical performances
On 12 September 1992 famous play 'Tumhari Amrita’ was staged in Kanpur performed by legend theatre artist Shabana Azmi and Farooq Sheikh. With the coordination of Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi, State Academies/Cultural Departments/Regional Cultural Centers/Several Cultural Organizations, more than 50 plays named as Ramleela, Bakri, Moteram ka Satyagrah (all three are based on folk based nautanki style) Ek aur Dronacharya, Poster, Mukhya Mantri, Ranganath ki Wapsi, Girija ke Sapne, Toota Aaina, Pati patni aur.. Taj Mahal ka tendor, Purush , Jaanch-Padtaal , Praja hi Rahne do, Dus din ka Anshan, Sambodhan, Gagan Damama Bajyo were performed in more than 200 successful stage shows  over 100 cities including Lucknow, Saharanpur], Bareilly, Allahabad, Chandigarh, Katra Jammu , Ujjain, Delhi, Jaipur, Raipur, Udaipur, Alwar, Mumbai, Gwalior , Bhubaneswar, Shimla, Kullu, Nainital , Dehradun, Ranchi, Banaras, Guwahati, Kolkata, Vardhman, Jalandhar, Patiala , Kurukshetra, Patna, Munger. Organised 7 National Level Festivals at Kanpur Centre. Dr. Omendra has also organized a National Drama Festival 8-13th March 2019 in Kanpur.The festival became famous by the name of ‘A festival for Holi’ in the newspapers and journals.

TV serials and film
Played many characters in Popular TV shows/Serial i.e., Crime Patrol, Savdhaan India, short/feature films (A Daughters Dream, Ghalib, Family of Thakurganj, Bamfad, Acid).

Training And Workshops
Conducted theatrical workshops in educational institutions of national level including Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, IIT Kanpur, Navodaya Vidyalaya, IIT Kanpur, Sir Padampat Singhania Education Centre.

Production and direction
Neer, Safai me hi hai Samajhdari and production & Direction of many other short films.

Awards

 * Setu Rashtriya Natya Samman of Varanasi in 2017
 * Kalidaas Samman in 2017 by Kishor Da Sangeet Natya Trust Kurukshetra
 * Also awarded by several national level Organizations including MAAC (2016, 2018, 2020).
 * Theatre Honour by Shriram Foundation Kanpur 2019
 * Awarded by Amateur Dramatic Club, Gaiety Theatre Shimla for the play ‘Bakri’ and ‘Das din ka Anshan’on 07th Sept 2014.
 * Participation Honors at Divisional Drama Festival Hardoi 23 March 2015 / Gangoh (Saharanpur) 30 March 2018 by Sangeet Natak Academy Lucknow Uttar Pradesh.
 * Guest of Honor by Artwork and Natraj Arts Theater Patiala on 14.12.2019
 * Pandit Suryadev Pathak Samman (11.02.2018) by Anga Natya Manch, Bariarpur Munger (Bihar)
 * Kanti Krishna Samman 2019 on World Theater Day 27 March 2019 by Yuva Natya Sangeet Academy Ranchi