BENGALURU: It’s going to be treat for theatre enthusiasts, as the ‘stage’ is all set to celebrate the works of two stalwarts; while an upcoming online event aims to bring Safdar Hashmi’s beliefs closer to the young generation, another recalls Qadir Ali Baig’s contribution to the field
Paying tribute to firebrand playwright-director Safdar Hashmi, city-based theatre practitioner Sujatha Balakrishnan is launching an online poetry reading festival of the late artiste’s works. With a special focus on children, the initiative aims to introduce them to poems of Hashmi, which Balakrishnan feels is a good way for them to learn more about contemporary issues, including the violence meted out to migrant labourers. “Hashmi’s poems are not aggressive and they convey their intended messages beautifully,” says the founder of Theatre for Change, which is bringing this three-day event from June 12 onwards.
All the poems will be read out by members of the city’s Hindi theatre fraternity. Zafer Mohiuddin from Kathputliyan will flag off the virtual poetry series with Bansuriwala, which looks at the common man and his importance in a democracy. Usha Rao and Dr Pooja Pandey Tripathi will perform another of Hashmi’s piece – an enactment of a lyrical dialogue between Akbar and Birbal on entitlement and ownership. Disguised as a saadhu, the latter helps the former realise how all humans are on Earth only for a short while. “The ultimate lesson is that no one person owns everything. So it’s a reminder to not be materialistic in nature,” says Rao, who will be playing Akbar in the reenactment.
Children can also find more takeaways besides lessons about the way of life. Since all performances take place in Hindi, it can break the notion of the inferiority that regional languages get dealt out in comparison to English, feels Tripathi. The physiotherapist and theatre artiste, who will play Birbal, says, “People of my generation paid much more attention to English and we, unknowingly, passed on notions about other languages to our children. Maybe through this performance kids can realise that language is not a barrier in the way of progress.”
Agrees Shatarupa Bhattacharyya, who has directed a rehearsed reading of Hashmi’s play Machine for the festival. Taking place over 13 minutes, it has six characters (three workers, a narrator, a maalik and a security officer) and is a “symbolic representation of capitalism.”
“The beauty of this play is that though it was written in 1978, it is relevant today as well since it highlights the exploitation of labourers,” explains Bhattacharyya, while alluding to the migrant exodus. The play then, she adds, helps become a huge “reality check” for children. Since Hashmi’s work took on the form of a street play, she also feels it works as a good introduction to theatre for children. “We can show them how you don’t need a lot of money or star power. If you have a story, all you need to do is tell it,” she says. The event will be streamed on Theatre for Change’s Facebook and YouTube page from June 12 onwards.