Badal Sircar | |
|---|---|
 Badal Sarkar in 2010 | |
| Born | Sudhindra Sircar[1] (1925-07-15)15 July 1925 |
| Died | 13 May 2011(2011-05-13) (aged 85) |
| Occupation(s) | playwright, theatre director |
| Years active | 1945–2011 |
| Notable work | Evam Indrajit (And Indrajit) (1963) Pagla Ghoda (Mad Horse) (1967) |
| Awards | 1968Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 1972Padma Shri 1997Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship |
Sudhindra Sircar (15 July 1925 – 13 May 2011), also known asBadal Sarkar, was an influential Indian dramatist and theatre director, most known for his anti-establishment plays during theNaxalite movement in the 1970s and taking theatre out of theproscenium and into public arena, when he transformed his own theatre company,Shatabdi (established in 1967 for proscenium theatre ) as a third theatre group . He wrote more than fifty plays of whichEbong Indrajit,Basi Khabar, andSaari Raat are well known literary pieces. A pioneering figure instreet theatre as well as inexperimental and contemporaryBengali theatre with hisegalitarian "Third Theatre", he prolifically wrote scripts for hisAanganmanch (courtyard stage) performances, and remains one of the most translated Indian playwrights.[2][3] Though his early comedies were popular, it was his angst-riddenEvam Indrajit (And Indrajit) that became a landmark play inIndian theatre.[4] Today, his rise as a prominent playwright in 1960s is seen as the coming of age of Modern Indian playwriting inBengali, just asVijay Tendulkar did it in Marathi,Mohan Rakesh in Hindi, andGirish Karnad in Kannada.[5]
He was awarded thePadma Shri in 1972,Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1968 and theSangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour in the performing arts byGovt. of India, in 1997.[6]
Badal Sircar, whose real name was 'Sudhindra Sarkar', was born inCalcutta, India to aBengali Christian family.[7][8] He was initially schooled at theScottish Church Collegiate School. After transferring from theScottish Church College, where his father was a history professor,[9] he studied civil engineering at theBengal Engineering College (now IIEST),Shibpur, Howrah then affiliated with theUniversity of Calcutta.[10] In 1992, he finished his Master of Arts degree in comparative literature fromJadavpur University in Calcutta.
While working as a town planner in India (at Damodar Valley Corporation), England and Nigeria, he entered theatre as an actor, moved to direction, but soon started writing plays, starting with comedies. Badal Sirkar did experiments with theatrical environments such as stage, costumes and presentation and established a new genre of theatre called "Third Theatre".[11] In Third Theatre approach, he created a direct communication with audience and emphasised on expressionist acting along with realism. He started his acting career in 1951, when he acted in his own play,Bara Trishna, performed byChakra, a theatre group.
Eventually still employed in Nigeria, he wrote his landmark playEbong Indrajit (And Indrajit) in 1963, which was first published and performed in 1965 and catapulted him into instant fame, as it captured "the loneliness of post-Independence urban youth with dismaying accuracy". He followed them with plays likeBaaki Itihaash (Remaining History) (1965),Pralap (Delirium) (1966),Tringsha Shatabdi (Thirtieth Century) (1966),Pagla Ghoda (Mad Horse) (1967),Shesh Naai (There's No End) (1969), all performed bySombhu Mitra'sBohurupee group.[1][2]
In 1967, he formed the "Shatabdi" theatre group, and the first production he directed wasEbang Indrajit in 1967, a play about three people – Amal, Bimal, Kamal and a loner Indrajit. In the next five years of its existence the troupe performed several of his plays and had a profound impact on contemporary theatre, especially after 1969 when it started performing plays both indoors and outside amidst people, and evolved theangan manch (courtyard stage) and inspired by the direct communication techniques ofJatra rural theatre form, to eventually become his "Third Theatre", a protest against prevalent commercial theatre establishment. Often performed in "found" spaces rather than rented theatre halls, without elaborate lighting, costumes or make-up, where audience was no longer a passive, rather became participatory, it added a new realism to contemporarydramaturgy, retaining thematic sophistication of social committed theatre all the while, and thus started a new wave ofexperimental theatre inIndian theatre. In 1976, his group "Satabdi", started performing at Surendranath Park (then Curzon Park) Kolkata on weekends. These open-air and free performances led to his troupe travelling to nearby villages on other weekends, where it employed minimal props and improvised dialogues to involve audience further into the performance.
Though he continued to hold his job till 1975, as a playwright he rose to prominence in the 1970s and was one of the leading figures in the revival of street theatre in Bengal. He revolutionisedBengali theatre with his wrath-ridden, anti-establishment plays during theNaxalite movement.[12][13][14][15]
His plays reflected the atrocities that prevailed in the society, the decayed hierarchical system and were socially enlightening. He is a proponent of the "Third theatre" movement that stood ideologically against the state. Third theatre involved street plays, with actors being attired no differently than the audience. Also the formal bindings of theproscenium theatre was given up. Sarkar's "Bhoma" is an example of a third theatre play, set as always, in an urban background. Starting withSagina Mahato, which marked his advent intoarena stage, his subsequent plays,Michhil (Juloos),Bhoma,Basi Khobor,Spartacus based onHoward Fast's historical novelby the same name, were performed in parks, street corners and remote villages with the audience sitting all around.[12][16][17]
Sircar directed his last play in 2003, and after that his movements were restricted after a road accident, but even many years later till 2011 he continued performing at play readings and writing new works like adapting William Shakespeare'sMacbeth, two stories byGraham Greene and a novel,History of Love.[citation needed]
Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awarded the prestigious 'Ammannur Puraskaram' in 2010 for his lifetime achievements in Indian Theatre. The award was presented to him by Girish Karnad during the inaugural function of 3rd edition ofInternational Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK).
Sarkar was diagnosed withcolon cancer in April 2011.[citation needed] He died on 13 May at Kolkata at the age of 85.
Sarkar was awarded the prestigiousJawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1971,[18] thePadma Shri by theGovernment of India in 1972,Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1968 and theSangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship-Ratna Sadsya, the highest honour in the performing arts byGovt. of India, in 1997, given bySangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.
The "Tendulkar Mahotsav" held at theNational Film Archive of India (NFAI), Pune in October 2005, organised by directorAmol Palekar to honour playwrightVijay Tendulkar, was inaugurated with the release of a DVD and a book on the life of Badal Sircar.[19]
In July 2009, to mark his 85th birthday, a five-day-long festival titledBadal Utsava as tribute to him was organised by several noted theatre directors.[20] He was offered thePadma Bhushan by theGovernment of India in 2010, which he declined, stating that he is already a Sahitya Akademi Fellow, which is the biggest recognition for a writer.[21]
Sarkar is the subject of two documentaries, one directed by filmmaker and critic, Amshan Kumar,[22] and anotherA Face in the Procession by Sudeb Sinha, which was shot over two years.
Badal Sircar influenced a number of film directors, theatre directors as well as writers of his time. Film directorMira Nair in an interview mentioned, "For me, Kolkata was a formative city while growing up.... I learned to play cricket in Kolkata, but more than anything, I learned to read Badal Sircar and watch plays written by him for street theatre. "[23] To Kannada director and playwright,Girish Karnad, Sircar's playEbong Indrajit taught him fluidity between scenes, while as per theatre director-playwrightSatyadev Dubey, "In every play I've written and in every situation created,Indrajit dominates." To Actor-directorAmol Palekar, "Badalda opened up new ways of expression."[24] Recently (2013), a newly established cultural group, Maniktala Kolpokatha has started their theatrical career paying homage to the great play writer, staging "Ballavpurer Roopkatha". To the group, it is one of the plays that is not often staged in the Kolkata Theatre Circuit, and has all the spices of love, laughter and fear.
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