25 years of Bharat Rang Mahotsav: A journey through India’s soulful theatre

It is that time of the year when all roads lead to Delhi’s Broadway at Mandi House roundabout to celebrate the world’s largest theatre festival. In its 25th edition, the Bharat Rang Mahotsav (BRM) is bigger and more diverse than ever before, and Chittaranjan Tripathy, the man-in-charge, is on the move to platform the tagline: ‘samvad sanskritiyon ka’. “The idea is to provide a stage for a democratic exchange of ideas, cultures, and creativity. For the first time, BRM is being held in every State and Union Territory. From Leh to Lakshadweep, we are taking theatre to the remotest parts of the country,” says the Director of the National School of Drama.

Underlining the diversity and inclusivity on display in the 25-day event, Tripathy notes that the festival features 277 productions in 228 Indian and foreign languages and dialects, from Nishi and Tulu to Sindhi and Maithli. “Being a milestone year, we have assimilated Jashn-e-Bachpan, the children’s festival, into the BRM. The Adirang segment focusses on the traditional practices in tribal communities. Puppet theatre and dance dramas, segments which have often been ignored at the festival, have been given their due.”

Feroz Abbas Khan
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement 

For Tripathy, the buzzword is to create a “non-elitist” stage that focusses not just on big names and groups but also on folk theatre practitioners from remote centres. “We have representation from marginalised sections like sex workers, transgender people, and performers with physical disabilities,” adds Tripathy.

Regarding the diversity of voices, Tripathy, says that street theatre is an important component of the festival. “Then we have Sanjay Mishra performing Ghasiram Kotwal. From what I have seen, it is a very interesting way to present Vijay Tendulkar’s play at this point in time.”

An alumnus of the 1996 batch, Tripathy describes himself as a man who can accommodate different generations and points of view. He notes that stalwarts take time to emerge and that one should be patient with young talent.

In a “world brimming with information,” Tripathy says, NSD students still retain their focus because of the spiritual atmosphere that the Gurukul-like space provides. “Yoga is part of the routine as it aligns the body and soul of the young artistes.”

Juhi Babbar Soni in Ek Lamha Zindagi
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement 

Active as an actor-director, Tripathy reminds cinema still has a screenplay at its core. “Theatre cannot shut its door to other forms. It is Bharat Muni’s four pillars, Angika (gestural), vachika (verbal), aharya (costumes), and sattvika (emotional), mentioned in the Natyashastra, that form the basis of all performances, be it OTT, cinema, or reels. As an institution, we have to spread our reach to different platforms where theatre is practised.”

On the cards

Hind 1957

After the spectacular stage adaptation of Mughal-e-Azam that kept the capital in a thrall, this Friday, Feroz Abbas Khan is returning to “a more intimate space” with Hind 1957, an adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer-winning drama Fences. With Sachin Khedekar in the lead, Khan says, “it is centred around a Muslim family grappling with the post-Partition image of the community.”

Looking back, Khan recalls that Salesman Ramlal was the first play that he staged at the festival with Satish Kaushik as the lead. “It was one of the most exhilarating experiences. Satish entered as a tired old man unable to comprehend the world collapsing around him, and the audience erupted with a huge applause.”

Juhi Babbar Soni in Ek Lamha Zindagi
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement 

Ek Lamha Zindagi

Interestingly, in its 25th show this Saturday, Ek Lamha Zindagi – A Love Story: 1938-1979, the personal becomes universal as Juhi Babbar Soni brings to life the intense relationship between Sajjad and Razia Zaheer, her maternal grandfather and grandmother. Set against the backdrop of the Freedom Movement, it follows the struggles of Sajjad, a pillar of the Progressive Writers’ Movement and a vanguard of the Communist Party of India, and Razia, who balanced family duties with her love of literature and emerged as a strong feminist voice in Urdu literature.

Inspired by her mother Nadira Babbar’s Mere Maa Ke Haath, the solo play has become a rage in the last year because of Juhi’s malleability as a performer and the writing’s depth.

“I decided to do a dramatic reading, but once I started, I began performing the text. Every bit of it resonated with me. The performance was a hit, but it left me restless.” With ample research material available in the family’s collections, she told her husband, Anup Soni, that she would develop it further and perform at the Prithvi Theatre within a fortnight. “With changes, it was no longer a daughter looking at her mother and father’s journey. It suddenly evolved into the universal love story of Razia and Sajjad. I reached out to Makrand Deshpande, who had directed Mere Maa Ke Haath, to help me decide what to keep. After four days of rehearsal, we performed, and God has been kind since.”

Chittranjan Tripathy addressing young actors
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement 

Juhi has fond memories of NSD, where she has performed since 1999, including Yahudi Ki Ladki under her mother’s direction. “Though I have not studied at NSD, I feel I have done a full-time course because my father, mother, and husband are from the prestigious institution. This is a new high because this time I have also compiled and co-directed the play.”

Kaumudi

Playwright-director Abhijeet Majumdar, whose much-loved Kaumudi starring Kumud Mishra will be staged on February 10, remembers that, as a teenager, Abhimanch would guarantee an air-conditioned experience for a ticket of Rs 10. “My earliest memories of BRM were watching the mercurial Asif Ali Haider Khan (recently seen in Dhurandhar as Babu Dakait) perform. One night, he was a sage in Anamnath Ka Potha, and the following day, he played a transgender person in Waman Kendre’s Jaane-Man. I did not recognise that he was the same actor I had watched the previous night until the curtain call. That’s the magic of theatre that stayed with me.”

With caste discrimination making headlines, Kaumudi, which presents the story of The Mahabharata from a Dalit perspective through an allegorical dialogue between the ghost of Eklavya and Abhimanyu, has become relevant all over again. “For me, The Mahabharata is a myth that represented the social realities of its times. The experience of caste discrimination has been constant for Dalits for centuries. It is for the system and others that it becomes latent and surfaces at times.” Over the years, he says, people have their own versions of The Mahabharata and its characters suited to their milieu.

Swang: Jas Ki Tas
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement 

Majumdar believes institutions like NSD should help preserve the distinction between culture and art. “Culture is about celebrating systems, rituals, and traditions, while art is about critiquing them. If art starts celebrating everything, it ceases to perform its purpose. There is a difference between celebrating Kalidas and staging Aashad Ka Ek Din that questions him.”

Playwright and senior theatre critic Anil Goel, whose latest creation Ek Thi Ladki Urf Ve Kuchh Pal, a story of unrequited love spanning three generations in which the suspension of civil liberties during the Emergency plays the villain, was released during the festival, cautions against falling for quantity over quality to protect the legacy and integrity of the festival.

Goel, who is on the festival’s selection jury, says there is a rise in devised plays that lack focus and adds that his study shows that theatre is losing writing talent to OTT even in remote areas. “After the demise of doyens like Habib Tanveer, Bansi Kaul, KN Panicker, and now Ratan Thiyam, there is a rupture in the intellectual tradition of different forms of theatre and the new generation is taking time to fill those big shoes,” observes Goel.

Bharat Rang Mahotsav is on till February 20