man of contrasts:Habib tanvir

Genesis-Habib ahmad khan was born on 1st september 1923 at raipur.his immediate family was town based some of his uncleswere land owners and he got cahnce tovisit couuntryside often.As a child he too had several oppurtunities to visit villages where he listened to music and songs of local people Here he developed passion to later become a trend setter. He passed matric from--Laurie municipal school,Raipur and obtained bachelor's degree from Maurice college Nagpur(194.for Post graduation He moved to city Aligarh and took admission in Aligarh Muslim University(AMU). After ayear's tenure at ALigarh university as a post graduate student,Habib ahmad khan began writing poetry under pen name--Tanvir and susquently came tobe known as --Habib tanvir.He later moved to Bombay to join Allindia radio (AIR) indian people's theatre association (IPTA) and Progressive writers association (PWA) Delhi 1945 He came to delhito workwith--Qudsia zaidi's Hindustani theatre group.Here he met actor -director-activist Moneeka mishra.love changed Habib tanvir's life and work and his craetivity scaled new heights.They later married. when Hbabib tanvir arrived in Delhi and stareted his carrer in theatre,The capital's stage scene was dominated by collegiate drama groups and amteur artists offering plays in English or vernacular translation.These groups derived their Concepts,Acting standards,Staging and Direction from the European models of later 19th and 20th centuries.There was little effort to link theatre work to indigenous Traditionsof performance anmd of immediate value to INDIAN audiece.Habib tanvir's first major play--Agra Bazar broke the mould and offered an experience radically different in form and content. Agra Bazar- Habib tanvir twin interest in poetry and music found its major expression on stage with Agra bazar--a play based on life and times of 18th century poet Nazir akbarabadi.Tanvir in his highly expressive and interesting artistic strategy put --Agra bazar in a market place with all its noise.
Royal academy of dramatic arts-Soon after this production, Tanvir went to England where he spent over three years studying theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He also traveled extensively through Europe, watching theatre. He spent about eight months in Berlin in 1956 and saw several recent productions by Bertolt Brecht.
call of nation- Tanvir was doubly convinced that no truly worthwhile theatre -- that is, no socially meaningful and artistically interesting theatre -- was possible unless one worked within one's own cultural traditions and context.
Tanvir began his long quest for an indigenous performance idiom. His first move was to work with some folk artists of Chhattisgarh and their traditional forms and techniques.
His first production, mounted soon after returning from Europe, Mitti ki Gadi (a translation of Shudraka's Mrichchakatikam), included six folk actors from Chhattisgarh in the cast. Besides, he used the conventions and techniques of the folk stage, thus giving the production a distinctly Indian form and style.
Mitti ki gadi- considered by many as one of the best modern renderings of shudraksha's Mrichkatikam.Mitti ki Gadi convinced Tanvir that the style and techniques of the Sanskrit playwrights can be accessed through Folk traditions.Mitti ki gadi and Visakhdutta-Mudraksha are practical demonstrations of the fact.
In search--At that stage of his career, Tanvir was not entirely satisfied with his work with folk actors. He recognized two 'faults' in his approach to them. One, he realised that it was not correct to fix the performance rather rigidly in advance by blocking movements and arranging lighting on paper.
The second difficulty was that, by doing plays in Hindi or Hindustani, he was making these actors speak standard Hindi, a language they were not accustomed to.
Conscious of these faults, Tanvir began to rid his style of work of them. He started using the method of improvisations. He also allowed the folk actors to speak in their native Chhattisgarhi dialect. The years 1970-73 were an exploratory phase for him. soon He realized that to maximize the potential of Folk artists,he must allow them speak their own language.He allowed them to do their own traditional pieces mostly in their own way.
second significant breakthrough came during Nacha workshop at Raipur 1972 more than a hundred folk artists of the region participated in the month-long exercise of traditional touch.comedies,improvised scenes,songs found appropriate space and resulted-Gaon ka naam Sasural More naam Damaad.The play turned out to be significant turning point in Habib tanvir's life.The play was a significant turning point in HabibTanvir's progress
With this production, which was a great success not only in Chhattisgarh but also in Delhi, he had broken new ground. He felt that he had found the form and style that he had been searching for ever since his arrival on the theatre scene as a director in the 1950's.
After the 1973 workshop, it became easier for him to go on with the construction and casting of a play through improvisations -- By the time he produced his masterpiece, Charandas Chor (1975), that evergreen darling of theatregoers throughout the country, the form and style of his theatre had reached its perfection.
Fascination for Folk--Tanvir's fascination with the "folk" is not motivated by a revivalist or an antiquarian impulse. It is based, instead, on an awareness of the tremendous creative possibilities and artistic energies inherent in these traditions.His theater does not belong within any one form/tradition in its entirety.
Tanvir's production involve a full cast of actors, some of whom also sing and dance. Instead of running after Folk forms,He looked for Folk performers who brought their own form and styles with them.
Habib tanvir's plays have a structural coherence and complexity which one does not usually associate with the "simple" form of the Nacha. Here Songs and Dances are not formally autonomous units as generally being used ratherare closely woven into the fabric of the action and function.They are part of the total thematic and artistic structure of the play.
His fascination for subject does not romanticise the 'folk' uncritically and ahistorically. His project, from the beginning of his career, has been to harness elements of folk traditions as a vehicle to produce a theatre which has a touch of the soil about it.
Fusion Vision--Habib Tanvir was the First to meld the Chhattisgarhi,Pandavni and Nacha folk dance song forms of his Region in his Theater, bringing Urban and rural actors in one single production.Tanvir explored content from Sanskrit dram, Shakespeare to tribal folk themes and contemporary European satire.
Tanvir's urban, modern consciousness and the folk styles and forms is perhaps best exemplified by the songs in his plays. A Midsummer's Night Dream (Kamdeo Ka Apna, Basant Ritu Ka Sapna) and The Good Woman of Szechwan (Shaajapur ki Shantibai) could not be possible without this interaction
Tanvir given his poetic compositions authenticity and freshness of original fitted with native folk.
One of the most outstanding examples of this kind of interaction is Tanvir's Dekh Rahe Hain Nain, based on a story by Stephen Zweig.
It is the moral dilemma embodied in the protagonist, a courageous warrior, who is tormented by the guilt of having to kill his own brother, which had attracted Tanvir to Zweig's story. In writing the play, he went beyond the story and invented new events, situations, characters and added dimensions and nuances.The result is a play that shared endevour to change the world.
Tanvir is quite careful not to create a hierarchy educated consciousness as over the unschooled creativity of his actors. In his work, the two usually meet and interpenetrate, as equal partners in a collective, collaborative endeavor.
Tanvir's theatre offers an incisive blend of tradition and modernity, folk creativity and skills on the one hand and modern critical consciousness on the other( www.samarmagazine.com)
Man of contrasts: Habib Tanvir, often dubbed the ‘legend’ of Indian stage, was a man of contrasts. He had a wicked sense of humour, a quiet determination and an uncompromising attitude that often verged on defiance.
Socialist cause: His occasional productions with urban actors and for groups other than Naya Theatre -- such as, Dushman (Gorky's Enemies) for the NSD Repertory or Jisne Lahore Nai Dekhya Wo Jamyai Nai (Asghar Wajahat) for the Sri Ram Centre Repertory -- are marked by the style that he has developed through his work with the folk artists. A highly sophisticated urban artist Habib tanvir had strong sense of History and politics.
There is a close connection between his predilection for popular traditions and his left-wing disposition. His involvement with the left-wing cultural movement showcased his commitment to the common people and their causes. His work in the theatre reflects larger socialist project of empowerment of the people.
IPTA and PWA-Habib Tanvir's open approach to culture was shaped by crucible of the Left-wing cultural movement particularly Indian people's theater association(IPTA) and Progressive writers association (PWA).
Sahmat-NGO sahmat,formed in the consequence of murder of Safdar hashmi.Habib tanvir remained founder trustee and participated in sahmat's--Hum sab Ayodhya exhibition.it was a cultural sit in at Ayodhya as to protest Babri demolition.He became chairman in 2003.
Naya theater-Tanvir and wife Moneeka mishra(herself a theater personality) founded a company of their own in 1959 and called it"Naya theater"company produced number of plays including modern and Ancient classics of India and Europe.post independence country was rife with new ideas,new thoughts and writing.Indian theater was in the grip of a colonial hangover.Naya theater offered Indian audiences truly Indian experience on stage(www.livemint.com)
PLAYS: Agra bazaar(1954)--Agra Bazaar (1954): Tanvir had special fondness for the richness of Chhattisgarhi-accented Hindi, and for the language of the bazaar versus the durbar.His Agra bazaar (Nazir akbarabadi)takes a vegetable vendor who believes that if he could only get a poet to write in praise of his wares, he would sell more sabzis.Agra Bazaar became a brilliant spectacle, gently stressing that literature and poetry are the prerogative of the masses-
Agra bazaar based on life and times of Nazir 18th century poet marked a watershed had mixed cast of rural and urban actors for the first time in Indian theater.It used local residents(Delhi) folk artists(okhla) and students to create the play.
Charandas chor(1975)--The story of a thief who keeps his honour at the cost of his life by stealing, but keeping his commitment to refrain from doing four things, is a stage classic.originally based on a Rajasthani folk tale adapted by Vijaydan Detha.
The play explained how difficult it is to stick to truth and Thief,like most people has to survive on half truths.
Ponga pundit--Ponga Pundit is identified so strongly with Naya Theatre and Tanvir that many assume he was the author. It was writtenby two folk artists, Sukhram and Sitaram.after the 1992 razing of Babri masjid Habib tanvir's performances of play came under fire from Shiv Sena activists.
In 2004 the play came under attack from Hindu right wing activists,at Vidisha where he was supposed to stage plays,after staging the first play second play--Ponga pundit A Right wing activist fro audience said--NO.The police requested tanvir not to stage any more plays.He was quite determined to stage it.''ponga pandit" was staged in empty hall.In 2003 RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal followers accused Tanvir of being 'anti-Hindu' and disrupted his play Being a satirical take on religious hypocrisy.with a spate of attacks He became secular Hero for Left-cultural activists.politics and religion have often clashed in pages of history (www.harmonyindia.org)
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Visarjan---a Hindi adaptation of Rabindra nath Tagore play---Bisarjan.
Mote Raam ka satyagraha-Based on the story of Munshi Premchand.Habib Tanvir along with Safdar Hashmi scripted the Humorous play.
book lover:Reading was Habib Tanvir way of silent-conversation.Eugene o Neil's collected plays,Austin's Making of democratic constitution,Urdu Duniya,Arthur miller's after the fall lie stacked in his Bhopal living room.
Awards: Sangeet Natak academy award(1969)
Edinburgh drama festival award(1982)
Padma shri(1983)
sangeet natak fellowship(1996)
Padma bhusan(2002)
A Legend:- one of the pioneers of the interest in folk forms and traditions of performance.In popular mind,The name of Habib Tanvir is closely associated with to the idea of Folk theater.When he began his carrier folk had not yet become a major pre-occupation in theater practice.
He Lived a full life,worked till his last days,followed his passion to glory and never settled for less than he could dream of
In any culture and in any age it is rare for a person to become a Legend in his own lifetime.The 86 year stalwart of contemporary theater attained this distinction in his Lifetime.--www.thaindian.com
To be completed---A bout 350 handwritten pages in Urdu"Matmaili chadaria"a piece of autobiogarphy long to be completed...The legend is dead now(www.haromonyindia.org)
source:samar magazine,harmonyindia.livemint,thaindian.