International BusinessRevisiting Charandas Chor
Naya Theatre, sans its founder — thespian Habib Tanvir, who passed away recently — is firmly back on its feet. The 50-year-old theatre group opened to housefull shows of Tanvir saab’s classic Charandas Chor earlier this week in the capital. After the veteran theatreperson passed away in June this year, his daughter Nageen and group manager Ram Chander took over the reins of the 20-people strong group, based in Bhopal. Naya Theatre is now busy preparing for the group’s 50th anniversary, an event that will be held in Bhopal and will see many of Tanvir saab’s plays being performed.
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“We also plan to revive some of the plays that we stopped performing sometime ago — A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sadak and Jis Lahore Nahi Dekhya. We will also be taking part in festivals in Kolkata and Guwahati early next year,” shares Ram Chander.
The last few months have been eventful for the group. Within two months of Tanvir saab’s death, the BJP government in Chattisgarh withdrew copies of Charandas Chor from educational institutions and libraries following protests by the Satnami community claiming that their leader was insulted in the play. It is believed that Tanvir saab, while writing the play, had heard from sources that the Satnami Pant leader was a former thief, something that was mentioned in Charandas Chor. “We never really understood how the controversy suddenly happened. While Habib saab was alive, nobody would dare to protest. And he would have written it for good reason, having heard it from reliable sources,” says Chander. The members of Naya Theatre, at first, laughed off the decision to ban the play in the state. “When the news sank in, we were shocked that a show which has been staged in so many languages, over decades, is suddenly being questioned after his death,” adds Chander. While the ban angered many, Naya Theatre decided to remain silent on it. Luckily, the ban was lifted soon after.
In between theatre festivals, the members of Naya Theatre also hope to complete the script of Konark, penned by Jagdish Chandra Mathur. It was a script that Tanvir saab had been working on before he took ill. The group will also be working on other scripts and plays, ringing in a new era in the history of Naya Theatre.
Who knows, maybe Tanvir saab is blessing them already.