When theatre practitioner and the founder of the Asmita Theatre Group, Arvind Gaur, talks, he does not confine himself to theatre only. In his work, he explores conflicted human histories and the consequences faced by the marginalised. His upcoming play, Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya O Jamyai Nai, adapted from Asghar Wajahat’s book, explores the suffering of ordinary people in the aftermath of the sub-continent’s ongoing tragedy, the Partition of India in 1947.
Jis Lahore… is about a family of Muhajirs, the Mirzas, who migrate from Lucknow to Lahore and are allotted a haveli vacated by a departing Hindu family only to find an old woman still living in it. After initial hostilities, they make their peace, and they even let her celebrate Diwali. One of the characters, a pehelwan, is a religious fanatic and Sikander Mirza, the patriarch, and the haveli’s current landlord, “does everything to save the old lady from the pehelwan. The play explores how humanity triumphs over religious hatred in a dark time,” says Gaur.
“This play says if you have not seen Lahore, you have not seen anything in the world. Before Partition, it used to be one of our political and literary centres. It witnessed mass protests against the Simon Commission. After Partition, it did not lose its spirit, and the relationship between the landlady and the Mirza family is a testimony to that,” he adds.
Current relevance
As a theatre practitioner, Gaur chooses text that speaks to the present time and space. “I need to have the right reasons. Caste atrocities still prevail in India, and that’s the reason I found Court Martial to be relevant and staged it. Jis Lahore…has been chosen for multiple reasons. Communal problems and religious hatred exist, not only in India but also across the world, so this play has a social, cultural, and political relevance now,” he says. “People like [director] Vishal Bharadwaj contemporise texts while adapting them for films. I have kept the characters as they are.”
What is important for Gaur is the role that actors play in his theatres. To perform a play like Jis Lahore…he trains actors in a particular way. “This is a sensitive text. So, during rehearsals, we talk about the social issues we are covering. We do not need any party affiliations to discuss these issues. Our identities as cultural activists are enough,” he says.
To be staged on August 15 at Shri Ram Centre from 7 pm, tickets: bookmyshow.com