Latesh Shah, the visionary... transformer... motivational speaker 'wandered' all over India, all across the world, even the Himalayas. For over 20 years to gain a rare & illuminating insight into life.
As the originator of the Street Play culture performing a world record 21 shows in 24 hours (45 mts. each) on the streets of Mumbai the powerful subject attracting not only heavy crowds running into thousands but also the likes of people like Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mrs. Vijayalaxmi Pandit and Shekhar Kapoor.
As Writer-Producer-Director-Trainer and Actor ('CHITKAR' his psycho-social drama, ran to packed houses for 15 years!) Latesh Shah focused on the turbulence in the world of women. About 20 years ago when AIDS was relatively unknown to India he wrote & directed 'Mahayatra' a heart-wrenching family drama on the subject. He has worked with Paresh Raval, Shafi Inamdar, Tabu, Raveena Tandon, Sujata Mehta, Supriya Pathak, and Madhur Bhandarkar….
As a son-of the-soil Latesh has done pioneering work in transforming the arid desert land of Kutch into a flourishing green belt. A first in the world: in a part of his 1000 acre farm in Kutch is the biggest oil-seed plantation of “Salvadora”. He founded the Kutch Vagad Fauj (KVF) for the betterment of the Kutchhi community. In the face of the Kutch Earthquake devastation KVF rebuilt the first village within six months in Bhachau district.
Riding the wave of social change that swept the country in 1975 Mumbai - based Latesh Shah joined Shri Jai Prakash Narayan's NAVNIRMAN movement eventually becoming its President.
And finally Latesh Shah is now looking beyond the horizon and national frontier. His World Human Development Center family is bringing about a dramatic transformation in the lives of the people...making a lot of difference in society…universally.
Shri Latesh Shah was born in the year 1953 in Bhachau taluka, Gujrat and since then he has chosen the path towards contribution through Love, Peace, Knowledge & Celebration.
He started writing at the tender age of 12 & wrote his first ever drama when he was 12. Born in Gujarat the family later settled down in Mumbai from where his quest of being & searchig a Human Being started. He was put in a government school at the age of 5 & was always a curious child.
He would always have questions for which answers were difficult to make a 7 year old understand. His urge to search for answers brought him down to writing them. As they stayed in a locality of chira bazar in Mumbai near church, mosque & being brought up with christians, parsis, hindus, jains, muslims & various sects of religion would always wonder why religions, why vegetarian & non-vegetarian society, why people fight amongst each other which was exactly why and on what he wrote for and performed the play in his school at 12.
So he adopted this form of expression and went on to write 30 full-length plays and 150 one-act plays in 20 years span.
His plays each one of them always has an element of learning, passing through a message, arising different questions and putting people to think why, how and what.
As he grew up his leadership qualities became certain. At the age of 18 he become the General Secretary of K.C. College. Coming from a vernacular Kutchi community background he was the first person to enter a college and opt for higher studies. He built his steps of wisdom independently.
Became The President of Mumbai Navnirman Movement at the age of 18 and thus becoming the right hand of Loknayak Shree Jai Prakash Narayan and enlighten freedom leaders.
He was always there to take an initiative first to stupefy any injustice and always thoroughly believed only the deserving person should stand first, which led him to take the fierce agitations in 1977 against the ruling government by creating a Youth Force with him & going from house to house through each slum area to awaken them. He has always stood by what was truth which has allowed him to create friendships lasting as long as 30 years and so on.
He became The President of Yuvak Biradari at the age of 19.
He graduated in Arts at the age 20 and finished Law by the age of 22.
He is the first person to bring in the format of street plays in India in 1976 and did the first street play in Mumbai at the age of 21 named "Bharat Hamari Mata, Baap Humara Hijda".
The young rushing blood was always evident filled with sheer energy and dynamism to contribute anything for world. He did create a huge record reaching by performing a 45 mins. Street Play in front of a crowd of more than 5,000 people. In each performance right from Churchgate to all the stations till Borivali. 21 performance of the street play were performed in a day. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and several other dignitaries like Rajiv Gandhi, Vijayalaxmi Pandit, Jawaharlal Nehru's sister and Shekhar Kapoor were the viewers touched, moved and inspired by an extraordinary street play.
His several other plays for instance "Galileo" the suppressed truth of Galileo's life and the theory of earth being round. "Step By Step" a tact play on 2 men finding and extra ordinary path. "Mahayatra" a marvel of play on 'AIDS' during the period when people were not aware of AIDS in the year 1984.
Made a history in Gujarati playwrite by creating, writing and directing a play "Cheetkar" which performed more than 700 shows and run for 25 years consistently all across the world and is still running full houses. Play is about paranoid schizophrenia which was written in Nair hospital in Mumbai where he stayed for a period of 1 year and provided the only one solution therapy to treat the mental disease Paranoid Schizophrenia which was accepted and certified by American Psychiatric Association. This play has contributed a lot the lives of depressed, deprived and mentally disordered people.
He has faced his share of ups and down's and has lived a roller coaster to stand today as he is. He opened a showroom of sarees in Dadar a time where people had challenged him it would be a big failure and the showroom is Paaneri started by him now is a successful brand. The showroom inspired other business people to create synergy and integrity among employers and employees.
He also made the biggest plantation of "Salvadora" in the world spread over 1000 acres of farm land and also inspired farmers to think big and do big attitude. Shri Latesh Shah was always a personal indignantly wanted to search his being, his purpose of living his goal of life, what after this life.
This quest led him to the Himalayas for a penance of more than 12 years, roaming and exploring almost each and every mountains of Himalayas and finding and gaining some unimaginable and unbelievable truth's of life and some extra-ordinary visions.
He stayed in the valleys, mountains, caves and several jungles living like a sadhu, a sanyasi and has discovered the secrets of a human life, birth and death. His tales of the Himalayas and his journey to spirituality is best spoken from his mouth.
He opened Hapasha Publicity and Promotion when he returned back and right during the start to the peak of the success ladder in 2001 Gujarat was shaken by a terror earthquake and he fled to his homeland the immediate day leaving behind his business for his people.
This era can be termed as the turning point of his life. He stayed there for more than eight months at a stretch and rehabilitated an entire village of 524 houses. In Kutch, Bhachau taluka a village named Kakarva. 19 different communities inhabited in the village and he had to unite them and take them out of the chaos of terror, destruction, nature's mayhem, to rehabilitate a new village solving disputes for land, families, money, property etc. Thus it was the first village to be built after the earthquake.
It was then, he realized that as the base of each house was weak they collapsed, same as the base of each human being is weak, the bondage, the communication in each family is weak which wouldn’t allow any creation, construction of nature to stand as a building, as a person. Foundation of human being must be strong, deep from childhood. self-search, confidence, awareness & alertness must be filled in their body, mind & soul; so, no calamities can shake them.
This realization gave him the force to start with motivational courses & psychological, philosofical, spiritual designs which helps people to enhance their living their communication, their expression their ambitions & their goal. That’s when he started a base for his community called Kutch-Vagad-Fauj & which later developed to be served for the whole human race called as The World Human Development Center(WHDC).
His life has been the epitome to contribution going through all the trials & tribulations. He’s gathered the experience of 10 lives into one, not being hypothetical.
As his mission statement says, ”My mission is to transform 60 crore people through Love, Peace, Knowledge & Celebration. I shall open 10000 centres of World Human Development Center all over the world within 10 years. My intention is to spread Love & Contribution to this world”.
He has also been elected as The World Peace Ambassador by The International Federation World Peace (IFWP) affiliated to on 23rd of November 2005.
His achievements are by far just the first step to his Mission Of World Transformation. The unique & the most powerful medium as his organization grows to its 4th transformational year is that he has stepped up to the courage of wanting to transform the individuals of all societies, caste & creed there aren’t many in this world to count by finger’s who have entered the vernacular medium’s & put forth their full effort to give them the exposure which today very proudly WHDC works for. To pass through the rigidity & to break their belief’s from lower middle class to middle class to higher middle class & bringing them to an arena of 360 from 36 is a valiant effort. For which each & every member of Mr. Latesh Shah’s team is applauded.
He wants to create a world with every individuals Dreams, Vision, Mission, Goal, Target & Design so well that everyone is engrossed on their highway & there will no longer be any hurt, negativities, complaints, guilt, jealousy in this world so the world can rest in Love, Peace, Knowledge & Celebration.
He has been training & contributing in peoples life since past 35 years;
1. Training actors, directors, writers for free.
2. Training farmers for free.
3. Training kids from the age of 3.
4. Training teenagers & youngsters.
5. Training housewives.
6. Training complex & confused people.
7. Training impaired people to live powerfully.
8. Training society to treat every living being with love & compassion.
9. Creating human in true sense.
WHDC would welcome any helping hand be it one, be it organization, be it all & invite each & all to strengthen the ties of world & transform the beautiful living world.