Continued from the last week

AC HA Theatre workshop Nat Raipur. Madhya

Pradesh was a landmark in establishing a new kind of folk theater. Habib Tanvir took a bold step of conducting the Chatishgarh Folk Actors and Musicians Group keeping* their local dialogues and songs. Like the Jatra of Bengal, the Bhavai in Gujarat and the Tamasha In Maharashtra, the Nacha is the theatre of peculiar form, typical of this region Madhya Pradesh. It indicates not merely dance but a. typical from of folk comedy that integrates music, dance and drama in a total theatre. Raipur Workshop was an intensive exercise in theatre in which collective production was attempted through a series of improvisations aimed at the development of a script. A theme and a style of many under the supervision of one man. Habib Tanvir. Some 40 folk artists both professional and non-professional. including people from the villages: farmers, blacksmiths, cobblers, and people from Raipur. Durg. Bhilai and Rainand Gaon formed the nucleus. , The main activity of play production was done through a series of discussions. talks and demonstrations by veteran folk artists and urban intellectuals on various subjects. These included youth leadership in theatre organisations, dance and music in Nacha theatre, acting in folk comedy. Nacha make-up, carpentry, civic and sanitation, sociological aspects of Chattlsh-garhi culture, folk theatre lighting etc. Practical classes were also conducted in mime, movements and improvisation in acrobatics with sticks, fencing and various martial and dramatic forms.

It was this form of Nacha Theater which brought a unique stage art in view of urban audiences. Improvised and creative, Habib Tanvir had set the stage and established folk dramatics as an acceptable media on city stages.

New songs and dance were introduced ' throUgh theatre workshops' representing a complete departure from. Jbe original known Nacha theatre forms. On the other hand his presentations encouraged greater authenticity in that they were taken from the creative expressions of community life. These aspects had not been reflected in the earlier folk presentations. Interestingly enough the workshops became an eye-opener to sophisticated urban forms of acting. In the first play there were only six folk actors from Chattisgarhi group but this number swelled to forty in the Nacha Workshop. The urban trained ac-

tors were peripheral to the production. The real actors were farmers, fishermen, carpenters, potters, smiths etc. spending at least six months in their village professions and the remaining part of the year would perform at annual festivals and seasonal cultural events or In foreign countries.

Habib Tanvir's contribution lies in banding up the group, both male and female. He Inspired confidence because he provided them a way and means to earn money out of their talent. Another important effect was the raising to respectability of the artists. For the first time in theatre history Habib Tanvir provided a unique platform for the Nacha group actors. During their stay in Delhi, they lived a community life, giving them economic, moral and spiritual support. In a large unused and somewhat dilapidated old house the actors all lived, ate and slept under one roof. So much so that we even heard that at times a baby was delivered in the premises. This was a extraordinaiy way of living for the actors, while away from their homes. During the staging of Charan Das Chor in 1975, there were 70 actors and actresses housed in the drawing room and backyard of an old disused municipal building which Habib, arranged for them. '

Habib Tanvir worked with these folk artists who had appeared in many of his major productions including the classic play "Mitti Ki Gari" by (Shudraka), "Uttar Ram Charit" by (Bhavabbhuti), Duryodhan by (Bhasha). and "Motey Ram Ka Satyagraha” by well known writer Premchand. The last mentioned production was assassinated in a fraca outside a mill gate some distance from Delhi, for his powerful revolutionary ideas.

'Charan Das Chor" is Habib Tanvir's masterpiece. It is an adaptation or Rajasthan folk tale made into a drama by Vijay, Qan Qqtha, tbjp script

underwent a transformation under Habib's, directorship, carrying the story to a much more poignant end.

The story goes that one day the Guru asked Charan Das to give up the bad habit of stealing If the wished to be his disciple. The thief offers to make four promises (1) he will never eat out of golden plates (2) never ride an elephant, (3) never marry a Queen, and (4) never accept the throne of a country. To this the Guru replied that he wished to add one more condition. He asked Charan Das never to tell a lie. In the new play Charan Das stands by his oath, never to

tell a lie and in the final moment when the Queen (who had fallen in love with him) gets angry that he does not accept her royal offers, (to eat in a gold plate, ride on elephant and marry her and become king) Charan Das stands by the oath he had taken and vindicates the faith of his Guru. He prefers execution, which the Queen ordered in her frustration and indignationt

Another landmark Is Habib Tanvir's play "Bahadur Kalarln” taken from and old folk tale of Madhya Pradesh. His interpretation is considered to be a most ingenious treatment. The story runs that In the village of Sorar there is a women of the Kalar casts. She is a seller of wines and is visited by many customers. One day a Raja came by and asked for wine. Bahadur gave him as much as he wanted and being they spent the night together. The Raja left and Bahadur gave birth to a son but never told him who his father was. After a long time there was a fight over land between the Raja's troops and the villagers and in this battle the Raja met his death at the hands of his son. Soon after Bahadur arranged for her son's marriage and it was solemnised, but the boy Chachand was not at all happy. She got him wedded to many brides, in fact as the story goes, up to 126 brides. But he did not like any of them. When his mother asked him "What it the matter, why do you not like any of these brides?" Chachand finally confessed saying "I do not like any woman other then you. I desire only you." Bahadur was stunned and horrified. Chachand asked his mother to give him water to drink. She led him to the ledge of the well and as he lent over to drink, she pushed him Into the well. Soon thereafter she pushed him into the village well and in remorse and desperation Jumped into the well after him. culminating her sorrow. As the play ends the last scene shows two flowers blooming side by kide.Tn thifolk drama of India this play is a sharp diversion from traditional forms, dealing with subject that has deep psychological nuances. One can compare it to the Greek play Oedipus Rex.

Another indigenous theme interpreted and written by Habib Tanvir went to the roots of the life of tribal people in the onslaught of development. This play "Hirma Ki Amar Kahani" (Immoral story of Hirma) depicts the personality of Hirma the messianic headstrong ruler of a tribal state called Titur Basna The story revolves round

the confrontation between so-called democratic development processes and the tussle between the aboriginals (advasis) and the host of officials, with disastrous results.

This theme carries a universal mes-, sage. Such development project' has been carried out in many parts of India. The story represents aboriginal life styles and history. It highlights a process of assimilation of a primitive, peo, pie — terrible process which has.precer. dents all over the world.

At the end of the play the audience is asked to ponder the question — who is the Victor? What is social development? What is economic development? Does development carry the same meaning for tribal people as well as urban people?

1 will now sum up the subject of folk theatre on the Indian stage. Habib Tanvir was well versed in Natya Shas-tra (dramaturgy of ancient Indian stage forms). The style he developed however is not taken from Natya Shastra but a-new stream of stage craft which led to the unique form that now carries his name. I quote from a critic of eminence Bharat Bhargava who say "Habib Tan-vir's themes are relevant to our contemporary situation, but the style of his playwriting is not prosaic or one dimensional. The language of his play has a natural flow, a lyrical and rhythmic pattern and surprisingly multi-dimensional. as does traditional Indian poetry. The lyricism, rhythmic patterns and poetry of his script must be understood to appreciate the methodology and,production of his plays."

It is known that Sanskrit plays are articulate and verbose, whereas Habib's are simple He a stream, in natural movement.

Habib Tanvir's amalgamation of folk theatre on the modern Indian stage, making it palatable to urban audiences Is his forte. Till he blazed the trial, folk drama was considered too rustic, even too crude to be performed before city audiences. Habib's extraordinary Insight and talent has done two things (a) he has revived the almost lost treasures of old folk tales and dramatised village performances, which lie at the base of Indian culture and (b) he transported the wealth of India folk acting onto the spotlight of the modern

stage, enlivening and infusing pure drama, total drama, to the conscious public who are seeking their roots.

The test of Habib Tanvir's greatness as an innovator of a new stage from lies not in his successful shows, which 1 have already mentioned, but in the one's that flopped.

Rather than the successes spread over 50 years span Habib's failures give iis Insight, to his remarkable ^trefjgth,. and stature. Without the support of critics acclaim he went on experimenting. The critics thought that he was using gimmicks taken from folk theatre. But Habib knew and believe in what he was doing. He culled out from the treasure house of folk culture a lyrical and rhythmic dialogue song-dance performance that hinged on contemporary situations, problems of the modern man. but not big social problems. His critics were trying to evaluate his works on readymade western parameters. It is know that in his early struggle he had hardly much support from theatre critics. Habib Tanvir although a product of the western school of RADA and Bristol Old Vic was a man of the cultivated class, who had kept company with Bertolt Brecht in E Germany and had

stage several plan's by Shakespeare (As You Like It and Midsummer Night s Dream) and Moliere, remained essentially India in his attitude and taste. He is an enigma because he handles both eastern and western expressions with such ease. Its all one seamless movement deriving from the experience of life. Habib moves from the specific to the universal and back to the specific with reiruMtkahle.fiempetcnce.

In 1982- Peter Brooks visited India and met Habib s Naya Theatre. He said "They represent and absolute extreme of purity; a peasant company directed by a highly sophisticated man who bring them up to town and takes every conceivable precaution to prevent the town from contaminating them. They all go back to their villages at harvest time. They speak their local Hindi patios.... Indian folk theatre is theatrical of acting out tales. There are no learnt conversation. no symbolic hand gestures. If you want a tree you stick a foot up in the air. Its pop art, using the vocabulary of natural fun and in that sense the Naya Theatre shows could be from anywhere, but there is something about this part of India that makes them very talented. Thev are born actors.’ ■