Mr. Dubey revived and modernized the Hindi theater, helping it to compete with the English-language theater that prevailed in Mumbai.
He was born into an upper-caste family in Bilaspur in 1936. He went to Mumbai to obtain a degree in English literature. He wanted to be a cricket player, but became interested in theater.
Although he came from the Hindi heartland of India, his vision was national and international. He played a major role in bringing together the theaters of the Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, and Bengali languages.