Media Release

Margao, Jul 19: At the recently held meeting of Fr Freddy J Da Costa Memorial Trust the names of the personalities to be felicitated by Gulab, the popular Konkani monthly and the trust were declared.

A great personality Prasad V Lolayekar was selected as Gulab’s personality of the year for his contribution in the field of art and culture. Renowned senior tiatrist, Titta Pretto will be felicitated with this year’s ‘Gulab Tiatrist Award’ and noted Konkani writer Brenda Menezes was awarded the ‘Gulab writer of the year’.

Since the unveiling ceremony of Fr Freddy J da Costa Road will be held on July 20, the birth anniversary of Fr Freddy, the awards presentation will not be held on that day as usual. Instead, it will be held on August 30 at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, Goa.

The personalities for the awards have been selected by an experienced jury consisting of Fr Manuel Gomes, Marcos Gonsalves, Jose Lourenco and Teotonio D'Costa.

(Prasad Loyenkar, Titta Pretto, Brenda Menezes)

Gulab - Personality Of The Year 2017: Prasad V Lolayekar

Senior administrative grade officer of Goa civil service is presently holding the posts of director of Higher Education and OSD to chief minister of Goa. Prior to this he worked in various departments of Goa. He served as member of General Council of Sangeet Natak Akademy, Government of India, New Delhi from 2009 to 2017. Has received experience of more than 30 years and worked in various capacities in the field of art and culture for 30 years. He has worked as director in the Department of art and culture for 11 years.

After joining as director, Lolayekar raised the department from scratch and brought it to great heights in the field of art and culture.

He commenced and organized D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas, an international intellectual festival that was observed for the last ten years which was made Goa’s most popular event. He has written stories, screenplay and dialog for films, one collection of poems published, titled 'Mula (The Roots), which received many awards including Kala Academy’s State Literature Award and Konkani Bhasha Award. Many plays, dramas and one act plays were written. He has acted in many dramas, films and telefilms, as well as directed many dramas and one act plays. He was involved in many social institutions and progressive movements in Goa.

He was awarded Kala Academy’s best Literature Award in 1995 for a collection of poems 'Mulam', Konkani Bhasha Mandal – Literature Award in 1995 for collection of poems 'Mulam', outstanding Personality of the year Award by Junior Chambers in the year 2003-04, best Government Servant/Civil Servant Award in 2011 by Government of Goa and
awarded Lokmat Goan of the year award 2018 for outstanding contribution in Government Service.

Gulab - Tiatrist of the year 2017 : Titta Pretto

Titta Pretto is the only surviving member of the syndicate which took on contracts of staging tiatrs in Mumbai for a long period. He is considered to be not just the most experienced in the group, but also the one who shouldered major responsibilities. His immense contribution to stage tiatrs in Mumbai and Goa overshadows his contribution to the tiatr as an artiste. His zeal in this regard continues even today as he looks out for opportunities that can further the cause of tiatr. This genius in exploring possibilities of staging tiatrs is known to be the Vasco da Gama of the Konkani Tiatr.

In 1950, Titta staged his first tiatr Atanchim Kazaram. His subsequent tiatrs were Soitanachi Tainnim, Pai Tum Chol Ghara, Mogak Lagon, Bomboi Karachi Bail, Disgras, Kirmidoracho Xevott.

Titta has the distinction of having acted in the tiatrs of all the famous directors. Apart from performing comedy roles, he also sings as well. He used to compose and sing his own songs, most of them being humorous in nature. He has acted in Konkani films Amchem Noxib, Nirmonn and Kortubancho Sounsar and has appeared as a comic character in Hindi film Love in Goa.

Gulab Writer of the Year 2017: Brenda Menezes

Brenda Menezes is a Konkani writer whose articles and stories for children have appeared in newspapers and magazines. Her stories and talks on a variety of subjects have also been broadcast on All India Radio, Panaji.

She has two books in Konkani to her credit. Natt’yangann (2007), a book of humorous plays and Chovda Doyall Kornnio (2009), a book of short stories based on Christian values. The books were published by Goa Konkani Akademi and Dalgado Konknni Akademi respectively.

She has transliterated Walter Menezes’ poetry book, ‘Zoit Ani Her Kovita’ into Devnagari Konkani and Sonia Shah’s book of poems, ‘Sopon-gondh’ into Romi Konkani. She has translated Sane Guruji’s Shyamchi Aaii from Marathi to Konkani and the same was published by National Book Trust, Delhi in 2011. She has also translated into Konkani most of the stories from Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince and other stories and the same has been published in ‘Bimb’ and ‘Gulab’ magazines.
Brenda is a recipient of Valerio Carvalho Konknni Puroskar instituted by Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr, Porvorim in 2012.