Contemporary Indian Theatre And Habib Tanvirs

Contemporary Indian landing field of operations And Habib TanvirsHabib Tanvir and Naya battleground are dickens inseparable names which ordain al flairs be memorializeed in the modern internal representation scenario in India. Its been a year since the death of Habib Tanvir, one of the most popular Indian Hindoo, Urdu interpretwrights, a poet, a domain director, and an actor, but lull the majority of theatergoers in India remember his famous cunningworks like Agra Bazar and Charandas Chor. The country will al way of lifes mobilize this man as the founding father of contemporary theatre of India. tho before we go into his life and work details we will provoke a quick understanding of the evolution of contemporary theatre in India.The usageal theatre,The classical or Sanskrit theatre andThe Modern theatre.Contemporary Indian theatre, as we know it today, has been widely influenced by the change in the semi governmental scenario in India. During the 200 years of British rule Indian theatre came in direct contact with western theatre. With the union of power by the British Raj in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Bengal, it was in the metropolises of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta that they front introduced their dah of theatre, earlier based on London concept.This genre of theatre began to expand in the 1850s as more enthusiasts moveed to per bring their own piece of cake on diverse languages based on western stylus. Due to the growth of this new formulate of the theatre the other conventional form of theatre felt the heat. Theatre started being ticketed from the 1870s. By the 20th century and First World War, it became a product for sale and was restricted into the auditorium.As the Indian freedom feces picked momentum, the notional side of the theatre took a setback. In 1922, the Indian communistic Party was founded and along with it came the Indian Peoples Theatre tie-up (IPTA), which worked as its heathenish wing. They took the initiative of portable theatre and these were based on various political agenda primarily against the British Rule. Indian theatre was turning out as a medium of social and political change that would be more concerned about reaching out to the common people.Post-Independence, Indian theatre got a fresh and broader outlook from trance mixing of various styles from medieval, Sanskrit, and western theatre. This newly found entity was further enhance by the formation of Sangeet Natak Academy in Jan 1953 and the National School of Drama, novel Delhi under Ebrahim Alkazi in 1959. This dramatic revival brought m close to(prenominal) pioneers in the theatrical front among which Habib Tanvir was one of the most popular theatre playwright-director in Hindi and Urdu. Along with B.V. Karanth (1928-2002), Ibrahim Alkazi (born 1923), Utpal Dutt (1929-1993) Satyadev Dubey (born 1936), Tanvir shaped the coordinate of modern theatre in India.The personal identity in Tanvirs form of theatre was that it showed how Indian theatre could be concurrently sounded with tralatitious and contemporary aspects. His theater was non fixed to any one form as a whole. His works reaped the skills, energies of kinfolk act and made them relevant to the secular and democratic perspective. The effect was that his artwork was as challenging as it was entertaining. During the five decades of his stint in theatre, Tanvir gave such memorable productions as Agra Bazar1954, Mitti ki Gari1958, Gaon ka Naam Sasural Mor Naam Damaad1973, Charandas Chor1975, Jis Lahore Ni Dekhya1990, and Rajrakt2006, of which many are renowned as classics of the contemporary Indian stage.In popular culture, the name of Habib Tanvir is closely cerebrate to the concept of the folk theatre. However, Habib Tanvirs magical spell with the folk was motivated by the folk performers who brought their own styles along with them. Habib Tanvir plays concern actors who move sing and dance. His project from the start had been to ut ilize elements of folk as an instrument to produce theater to appeal general masses.Habib Ahmed Khan was born in Raipur, Chhattisgarh to Hafiz Ahmed Khan, who belonged to Peshawar. Tanvir was a pen-name he took aft(prenominal)wards when he started writing poetry. Raipur, during that sentence was a small town ring by closures. As a child, Tanvir too had many opportunities to visit villages, move with the residents and listen to the songs of the locals. He was so attracted by those melodies that he even memorized some of them.Tanvir completed his schooling from Laurie Municipal High School in Raipur and his BA from Morris College Nagpur in 1944. After pursuing his Masters for 1 year at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Tanvir moved to Bombay in 1945 and joined All India Radio (AIR). He also joined the PWA (Progressive Writers Association) and became an essential part of IPTA (Indian Peoples Theatre Association) as an actor. When the commie Party of India was banned many IPTA memb ers were jailed or went underground. From 1948-50, Habib solely handled the debt instrument of running the organization.In 1954, Tanvir moved to Delhi, and worked with Hindustani Theatre formed by Qudsia Zaidi and authored many plays. It was in this period he met Moneeka Mishra, also an actor-director, whom he subsequently married. In the same year, he produced Agra Bazar, based on the eras of the 18-th-century Urdu poet, Nazir Akbarabadi, an honest-to-goodness poet in the generation of Mirza Ghalib. He used students of Jamia Millia Islamia and local residents and folk artists from Okhla village and created an ambience never seen before in Indian theatre. The play was not staged in a restricted space, but in a bazaar, a marketplace. Later, On a Govt of India scholarship, Tanvir went to England in 1956. He received provision at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and the British Drama League, and having impression to Western drama and production styles.He traveled extensively th roughout Europe, watching theatre. In 1956 he spent about 8 months in Berlin and saw numerous productions by Bertolt Brecht. Being Tanvirs first experience with the German playwright-directors work he was quickly influenced by it. Simplicity and directness were the benchmark of Berliner Ensemble productions, and Tanvir was re heeded of Sanskrit drama, about its simplicity in technique and presentation. By the time he got back to India, he was determined to unlearn much of what he had learnt at RADA. Thus following a path of development antagonist to that followed by other Indian directors trained in Britain.Soon after returning from Europe, he worked with some folk artists of Chhattisgarh and tried to understand their forms and techniques. His first production, Mitti ki Gadi, included 6 folk actors from Chhattisgarh in the cast. Besides, to legislate a distinct Indian form and style, he used the conventions and techniques of folk stage. This play though is now performed entirely by village artists, but it is compose considered as one of the best modern portrayal of the classic.Tanvir and his wife Moneeka Misra founded Naya Theatre in 1959. During this stage of career, Tanvirs interest in the folk traditions and performers keep to grow. But, it was not until the early 1970s that this association reached a new and more bear on phase.Tanvir wasnt entirely satisfied with the working of folk actors. He identified two faults in his approach to tackle them. Firstly, the problem with the rural artists was they not merely could read or write but couldnt even remember what way they needed to move in the stage. So, it wasnt wise enough to pre-define their movements in advance. Secondly, fashioning these people speak standard Hindi in Hindustani plays created a severe handicap for them and restricted their freedom of expression and creativity in performance.To improvise on these faults, the folk actors were allowed to speak in their autochthonic Chhattisgarhi dia lect. He also worked intensively with rural performers in their language manner of speaking and style of performance. Also, to make them feel stage worthy, he allowed them their own portion of delivery in their own traditional way. The second breakthrough came when Tanvir conducted a nacha shop in Raipur in 1972 where more than a hundred folk participants were involved in a month-long exercise. During this workshop, three different traditional comedies were selected and combined to form a full length play. Further improvisations linked them up to a full story, leading to a stage play called Gaon ka Naam Sasural, Mor Naam Damaad.This play attach a turning point in Tanvirs career, not only because the play was a grand success in Delhi but that he at last found the form and style he was searching since his directorial debut. Since then, he continued his construction and casting of play through improvisations. Through this method, at that time he produced his best work Charandas Cho r(1975). This play is still the evergreen front-runner for most theatre goers.Tanvirs Naya Theatre worked almost entirely with folk actors. But, his periodical productions with other theatre groups were also marked by the style he developed through his work with folk artists. But, this newly developed style was not folk theatre by any sense. He was still an urban artist with sensibility, modern outlook and strong sense of floor and politics. His unique style and content in theatre always reflected his commitment to common people and their causes, primarily due to his involvement with the leftist cultural movement in early years.Tanvirs fascination with the folk was motivated by the fact that he believed there is a huge artistic and creative energy inherent in these traditions. He always borrowed techniques, music and al-Qaedas from these traditions as and when required. His theatre never belonged to any one form or tradition wholly. His plays, from the beginning, have been utili zing elements of folk traditions as a tool and make them give new, contemporary meanings, and to create an art form which has that touch of soil in it.The performance styles of the actors were always in their conventional nacha background, but the plays were not maestro nacha productions. While the number of actors in a nacha play is usually 2 or 3, the rest being background dancers and singers, Tanvirs plays used to involve a whole casting of actors, some of whom could sing and dance. His productions always had a structure which one doesnt associate with the original form of the nacha.Another significant diversion is that while the nacha songs are mostly used as intermediate musical theater delays, in Tanvirs plays they were closely embedded as an important part of the theme of the play. This is best displayed in some his adaptations like The Good Woman of Szechwan (Shaajapur ki Shantibai) and A Midsummers Night Dream (Kamdeo Ka Apna, Basant Ritu Ka Sapna). Tanvir not only gave h is poetic compositions the incandescence of the original but has also used his words to fit native tunes with ease and skill.However, Tanvir was always conscious not to create a digression between his own educated minds over the uneducated creative mind of his actors. An example of this approach is the way Tanvir mixed his poetry to the traditional tribal and folk music, retaining its own imaginative power without in any way less valuing the latter. Another example is the way he allowed his actors and their skills to be intercommunicate by less complicating the lighting stage design.Therefore in credit line to the stylish genre of drama on one side and the traditional theatre on the other, Habib Tanvir, with his own blend of tradition, folk creativity and unfavourable consciousness, offered a fresh and innovative model of field of dramatics. It is this rich blend which made his art so memorable.Even after Tanvirs death, his innovative art form and style is still being carried forward through newer productions of Naya Theatre. see recent performance of Naya Theatre actors in movie Peepli Live we can probably comment that Tanvirs art form is gradually crossing the barriers of contemporary theatre and exploring newer towards mainstream cinema.