"Theatre has given me the right attitude and the ability to know and understand the other person"
A meditation on the power of Indian theatre — and the need to keep it free of government influences
Theatre is not meant to just entertain you—it makes you feel alive. It brings out the better person in you. It teaches you not only to respect your co-actors, but also respect the stage you perform upon. In fact, it teaches you to respect every little prop that is used on the stage. Because you are not the only one who is on a journey while performing, but every prop present around you is on the same journey.
Theatre lets you interact with your audience with conviction by boosting your confidence. One cannot guarantee becoming a ‘good actor’ after performing theatre, but the possibility of becoming a good and responsible human being is certain.
While entertaining your audience to a whole new level, Theatre knows how to bring important matters on the table like comprehending bad conditions of society, knowing the difference between right and wrong, standing for the right against the wrong, and alleviating the curiosity among people.
During the British rule, when legends like Bhagat Singh and his companions were determined to bring revolution in the nation, one of the medium that they chose to create awareness among people was Theatre. They took pride in reaching out to people and spread the word on sensitive issues like Hindu-Muslim union, bad condition of farmers and youth with the medium of theatre.
Theatre holds a bizarre power that can even tremble the chairs of government to the core. Let’s take an example: Safdar Hashmi Sahab was shot and killed in Sahibabad on January 1, 1989 while performing a street play named ‘Halla Bol’. The incident took place because he had courage to let people come across and get to know their rights and how government is exploiting them to an entirely different level, which certainly didn’t go well with a lot of authorities and resulted to his death.
From social and political theatres to drama, comedy, love and silent plays, each domain holds a very sacred place in the world of theatre. As a matter of fact, the living example of theatre secularism is the Ramleela. Even today, our nation celebrates and performs the Ramleela that involves the best actors belonging to different religions: Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Isayi. Well, the only religion they hold is the religion of art. They are artists. And an artist performing the role of Lord Ram on stage could be a real-life Rehman! Besides, even today the Ramleela of Faridabad in Sector 15 is performed in Urdu. This Ramleela was initiated in 1976 and keeps alive the pre-partition spirit.
Today, there is a sense of disappointment for those renowned theatre groups that are sold in the hands of government. They have become puppets to government officials and perform only those specific acts that speaks for the government and by the government. This is not just an insult to a theatre group but to all the artists who perform in it, because a platform with which you can portray the troubles of poor and oppressed - their pain, their sorrows, to a large section of society—is now sold for just the greed of money.
Even today, our nation celebrates and performs the Ramleela that involves the best actors belonging to different religions: Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Isayi. Well, the only religion they hold is the religion of art. They are artists.
Yet the count of such cases is small, because not only in India but in entire world, there are theatre groups and artists that understand the value of this art called theatre. There are theatre groups that connect with the people, not only with the help of stage plays but also with the help of street plays and Nukkad Natak.
As an artist and a theatre practitioner, I myself have found many drastic changes in myself. Theatre has given me the right attitude and the ability to know and understand the other person. I have been a huge fan of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh and I proudly affirm that my confidence to speak over any social political issues openly in public has come through theatre only. I personally believe, that every individual of any age gender, age, caste and religion should perform theatre at least once in their life. And if you ever perform theatre with all your heart and soul, then the changes you would observe in yourself, from understanding things, situations to understanding people, would be commendable. For an artist, the whole world is a stage.
Faraz Khan is has been practicing theatre since 2015, and has done plays in English, Hindi and French. He has performed in hundreds of street plays around India and is now linked with a theatre group in Mumbai. You can find him on Instagram: @actor_khan
