Sixty-five year old Ghulam Ahmed Ghulam is a member of Delhi-based theatre playwright and activist M K Raina’s band of Bhands, folk theatre artistes from Kashmir. From making baskets that kept his family alive during Kashmir’s insurgency-torn era to making people smile with his unique brand of theatre–Ghulam. The troupe was at the Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai, recently, to perform at Prakriti Foundation’s Hamara Shakespeare festival earlier this month.
Bhands practise the art of Bhand Pather, the traditional Kashmiri folk theatre that has been passed down from generation to generation, mainly in the villages of Akingaam, Muhurpur and Arihama—in Anantnag district. Members of the troupe spoke about their recent trip to Guwahati, where they were received with fanfare and love. Ghulam, who is from Akingaam, says that his father and grandfather practised the art form. Ghulam and his father used to perform at marriage functions and other rituals.
But insurgency hit Jammu and Kashmir in the 1980s and changed everything. Ghulam’s livelihood suffered. “The turmoil in the area hit us badly. The culture of the region was affected badly,” he says in fluent Kashmiri with bits of broken Hindi thrown in. Manzoor Ahmed Mir, a playwright and manager for Raina’s troupe translates. “We had to turn to menial jobs to keep ourselves afloat,” he says. They worked as labourers. They made chairs and baskets and cleaned houses. Some Bhand artistes became bus conductors and drivers. It continued for more than 15 years when Raina stepped into the scene. He took it upon himself to revive the fast-disappearing Bhand Pather by working with the villagers. He convinced them to start performing again. “It kept bothering me that they were in bad shape and that the art form would die out with that generation of Ustads. I took the plunge,” he says.
Together, they re-did two old stories — Gosain Pather, a story about saints and Shikar Gha, relating to the animal kingdom of Shiva —both centuries old plays. More recently, they have been travelling for three years with an adapted version of Shakespeare’s King Lear. It’s called Badshah Pather and has won them accolades.
Members of the troupe now have the chance to fly to other parts of the country to perform. The second generation performers, like the 34-year-old Javed, who is Ghulam’s son, and the 19-year-old Qaser Ahmed Shah, have all taken to it like ducks to water. But the elders in the troupe are still having a hard time believing the turnaround in fortunes.
Basheer Ahmed, another veteran artiste who has been performing the art since his childhood is just happy that the change has brought prosperity. “It has brought us peace. We finally have some dignity in our lives. Our people back home respect us for what we are doing. They are very proud,” he says, his rough, weathered face beaming. Javed’s prosperity means better lives for his three daughters, aged eight, six and three. “If we are performing in Kashmir, they will come and watch. They like to watch me act,” says Javed with a shy smile.
Ghulam likens Raina to a ‘farishta’, an angel. “During the turmoil, we wanted our old lives back. We thought we wouldn’t be able to perform again. Raina saab gave a new face to Pather. He caught hold of our hands like one would do with children, and started our tradition again,” he says.
The bell rings for lunch.Rehearsal for Badshah Pather over, they head towards their bus. Basheer adds. “We feel like going everywhere we can to spread love and our art form.”