Markand Bhatt was born on 2 October 1929 in
Vadodara. He started acting at the age of ten in local stage troops. He received master's degree in Drama in 1958 from
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He served as the Head of the Department of Drama at Saurashtra Sangeet Natak Akademi, Rajkot for two years. He served as the Head of Department of Theatre Art from 1969 to 1989 and the dean of the Faculty of Performing Arts from 1984 to 1989 at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He was chairman of the Gujarat Sangeet Natak Akademi from 1992 to 1995. He had acted in more than 1,500 shows of Gujarati plays. He is considered as a pioneer of modern Gujarati theatre who revived the theatre in 1960s. He directed several plays including some acclaimed ones;
Dhara Gurjari,
Paritran,
Shetal Ne Kanthe,
Finger Print and
Hoholika. He played as an actor and directed plays till 2000. He was associated with an organization, Triveni, to work in field of theatre. He died on 5 February 2016 at Vadodara at the age of 87. ==Recognition==