Pune-based Milind Shintre (41) is a well-known screenplay writer and film director who has directed and acted in several commercially successful stage plays including Clean Bowled, Poonha Sanshaykallol, Dosh Chandanyacha and Sangeet Nava Bakara. The latter, described as the world’s longest mute play, won a Zee Award for Shintre as writer-director. However, Shintre’s less known passion and expertise is designing Marathi-language crosswords, the first of which he created as a class V student of Pune’s NMV School.

Newspeg. Late last year, Shintre designed the largest crossword puzzle in Indian history which has earned him an entry in the Limca Book of Records 2011. Five sq. ft in size with 3,600 squares and 1,350 words, it’s the result of two years of sustained effort and requires a full page the size of a broadsheet newspaper.

Direct speech. “I have designed this crossword to maintain the purity of the Marathi language. This ancient tongue spoken by over 100 million people is endangered because of political and cultural differences among those who write and speak Marathi. By solving this crossword, one can master the etymology and vocabulary of the Marathi language. It not only improves the vocabulary and writing skills of those who attempt to solve it but their learning skills as well. While solving this crossword, you automatically begin a long journey into the evolution and etymology of the language,” explains Shintre.

History. Born and raised in Pune, Shintre began his professional career as an engineer in the city-based engineering blue-chip Bharat Forge Ltd, after graduating from the government polytechnic in 1989-90. However, a few years into the job he decided to pursue his dream of being a playwright and actor on the Marathi stage. In 2008, he wrote his first screenplay for a feature film Tula Sheekveen Changalach Dhada and directed a commercial film Lagli Paij. Now Shintre aspires to direct a Hindi film starring Aamir Khan. Meanwhile, designing crossword puzzles is his premier leisure-time pursuit.

Future plans. Not fully content with an entry in the Limca Book of Records, Shintre has set his sights on the Guinness Book of World Records. “In the Guinness Book of World Records, a crossword which hangs on 7 sq. ft of wall space featuring 91,000 squares, is listed as the world’s largest (English language) crossword puzzle. I am now working on a Marathi crossword with 100,000 squares. To solve this mega puzzle, I plan to conduct a statewide competition based on the popular Kaun Banega Crorepati format. It will definitely spur youth to learn Marathi,” he says.

Huned Contractor (Pune)