An oft quoted couplet of Akbar Allahabadi goes like this :
ham aah bhee karte hain to ho jaate hain badnaam
vo qatl bhee karte hain to charcha nahin hota
( I do suffer slander when I merely sigh /
She gets away with murder, no mention of it nigh ! )
DOGRAS are great people. And, moreover, the Jammuites are large hearted. So much so that they appreciate and cheer others for the same faults for which they severely run down their own !
I was watching drama “Ghalib” at the Abhinav theatre recently. There were about 50 people in the auditorium that can seat 400. It is a musical play written by a young man called Abhishek Bharti. He has directed the play wherein a real life policeman called Balwinder Singh plays the protagonist.
After the show, the team felicitated a few of us onstage, when Abhishek told me there were a few mistakes of pronunciation that he has to set right with the help of seniors who know the language well. What humble self assessment and brave admission ! I was touched.
Whenever a mistake was observed onstage, during the performance of the play, whispers of correction could be heard like a running commentary. Valid comments from the people who know the language, of course. And why would a Dogra overlook a mistake of fellow Dogra ?
But, similar kind of mistakes, manifold, were seen in a performance by IPTA ( Indian People’s Theatre Association ), under the leadership of Prasanna, ( it’s president ) the theatre legend in his own right, on 15 November, at K L Saigal Hall of the Cultural Academy. The Jammuites present on the occasion not only overlooked the shocking mistakes, but also lauded them with cheers ! I was dismayed.
Of course, we lost our sense of proportion and evaluation under the awe of the reputation of IPTA, and erudition of Shri Prasanna. Sadly, we refuse to believe that even the gods have feet of clay !
As compared to IPTA, Team Ghalib has yet to build their influence, whilst Prasanna came to Jammu as head of IPTA, an association with a reputed theatre movement that is 80 years old. Besides, he has earned a reputation he needs to dearly defend.
The next day, Prasanna held a workshop of about 20 theatre enthusiasts at Rangyug, a local theatre group with good reputation. I expressed my dismay and shock : how could a group of theatre persons performing under the banner of IPTA have serious faults in diction and pronunciation, I asked.
What is the importance of dialogue delivery in a theatrical performance – was my query to him. How could IPTA present a show where diction of the artists is putrid, so to say ? And, they are touring a few states of the country, performing in several cities and, or, villages !
He did not face the question squarely. He and IPTA general secretary, Tanvir Ahmed, said that the artists come from Bihar and they were not trained ! Coming from the renowned IPTA and the doyen of Indian theatre Prasanna, I wonder if these should not be considered invalid and pathetic excuses.
I expected an honest admission to negligence and lack of supervision, just like the courageous Abhishek Bharti. Moreover, why blame Bihar, which has given us some of the best Urdu and Hindi speaking actors ?
And, why tell a journalist who was recording your acting workshop to stop, at the precise moment he asks you a question ?
When one of the leaders of theatre activism in India leads a group of performers, we expect the very best of theatre to be showcased. Sad that both Prasanna and IPTA disappointed ; although I am glad I witnessed the act. Otherwise, I may have refused to believe the reports of this show !
This is not to overlook the achievements of Prasanna or his contributions to the field of theatre. These lines are written so that my dear readers realise that we all make mistakes ; some knowingly and some unknowingly. Bonafide mistakes, done unknowingly, are perfectly pardonable, if accepted with grace.
Let us recall the names of some of the towering and illustrious personalities like Prithviraj Kapoor, Bijon Bhattacharya, Balraj Sahni, Ritwik Ghatak, Utpal Dutt, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Salil Chowdhury, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Jyotirindra Moitra, Niranjan Singh Maan, S. Tera Singh Chan. They are till date remembered for their contributions to the theatre movement through IPTA. Hard working and talented artists, indeed ! Prasanna carries this rich legacy.
Here is the backdrop. These days, a small group of IPTA is touring the country, covering several destinations, with a message of love and peace. The yatra ( tour ) started on the birthday of Bhagat Singh, 28 September, and shall end in Delhi on 30 January, the day Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead, in 1948. During this tour IPTA is staging some street plays to spread the message under ‘Dhaii Aakhar Prem’. Love in Hindi is “Prem” that is written with two-and-a–half letters (Dhaii Aakhar) of Devnagri script.
Theatre activist Deepak Kumar co-ordinated the Jammu part of the tour. He roped in few of his close comrades to make suitable arrangements for the visiting artists.
To welcome the artists, he sought help from Prof Lalit Magotra ( President, Dogri Sanstha ) and Seema Anil Sehgal, popularly known as the Peace Singer of India. After Lalit introduced the audience to the Dogra revolutionary Dhanwantari, it was left to Seema to spread the message of peace through her vocals.
It certainly was a melodious welcome to the visiting artists and activists as Seema Anil Sehgal, rendered an anti-war nazm by Sahir Ludhianvi. This set the tone to the event and was a perfect welcome to the visiting team of IPTA on behalf of the artists’ community of Jammu. It was a stellar performance by the renowned singer.
After Seema Anil Sehgal ( SAS ) sang, RJ Juhi ( Radio Jockey Juhi who admirably conducted the entire proceedings ) came on stage and declared : I am speechless. I don’t know what to say. The resonance of her melody envelops the entire auditorium !
Swami Antar Nirav, the well known poet of Jammu wrote through a digital message : after listening to the magical performance of Seema Ji, I left the auditorium. I knew nothing could surpass her that day !
As a prelude to her rendition, Seema said : I am very glad to welcome IPTA under the leadership of Prasanna Ji, to Jammu. I commend the laudable initiative of a peace march. In fact, Prasanna Ji and Tanvir Ji are doing today what I did about two decades ago !
You got it right, dear readers. She did it two decades ago. Let me put the things on record for the readers of this column and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
In the year 2002, I, along with Seema Ji, conceived a peace concert called ” Lahoo Ka Rang Ek Hai “. We selected about a dozen poems from India and Pakistan written by saints such as Guru Nanak, Kabir, Bulle Shah and poets Sahir Ludhyanvi, Qateel Shifai, Anwar Ehsan Siddiqui, Ahmed Faraz, Ali Sardar Jafri, among others.
The inaugural concert was held at Nehru Centre, Mumbai. It was attended, among others, by renowned poets Nida Fazli and Abdul Ahad Saaz, well known painter Altaf and the undefeatable Sultana Jafri. This concert was repeated several times in Mumbai and other cities too. Songs from the concert were sung in Lahore and Karachi also.
The message was crystal clear : it is the same blood that flows in the human veins ; we need not rip open them.
The concert was in continuation of our efforts to spread the message of peace and amity and promote communal harmony through music and poetry for which Seema and I were felicitated at the prestigious Harvard University, USA.
As we speak of the joint efforts of Prasanna and IPTA through ” Dhaii Akhar Prem “, it would be worthwhile to mention that I produced a music album titled ” Sarhad “, in 1998, which was dedicated to Indo- Pak amity. Those were the times when speaking about friendship with our neighbour almost amounted to an act of treason.
“Sarhad” was eventually carried as a national gift when prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee undertook the historic Lahore Bus Yatra, in 1999. It made international headlines because at no time in political history of the world, the voice of a singer has been presented as a national gift. This Seema has a unique honour to her credit.
Theatre activist Deepak Kumar did a wonderful job of organising the yatra of the visiting artists with good promotion. He was ably supported by his team members which included several well known names from the fields of literature and the arts.
The event included short street plays, monologues and singing of songs for universal brotherhood. Deepak also organised a short workshop for the local theatre enthusiasts by Prasanna.
Prasanna is a well known theatre person of India. A graduate of the NSD ( National School of Drama ), he initially wanted to be an engineer and joined the IIT ( Indian Institute of Technology ). But, under the influence of B V Karanth, renowned film director, playwright, actor, screenwriter, composer, and dramatist, he was attracted to the world of theatre. He is the founder of Samudaya, a “radical theatre movement for workers and masses” under which he staged several street plays and protest plays to propagate his political thought, which is influenced by the Left.
He was a visiting faculty at NSD, worked for a television company in New Delhi, and soon got disenchanted with theatre. He returned to his village and started spreading the love for theatre, good cinema and the arts and crafts among his natives. Our son Kartikey Sehgal has been to his village Heggodu in Karnataka where he found the villages well versed in ‘theatre of relevance’. Among other things, Prasanna is well known for stage productions of dramas “Tughlaq” and “Gandhi”.
As I sign off, I am reminded of famed poet Sahir Ludhyanvi ; I don’t know why. But I quote:
Yun sulagate Hain damakte hue rukhsar tere
Ankh bhar kar koi dekhega to jal jayega
Itna sayyal hai yeh pal ke gumaan hota hai
Main tere jism ko choo loon to pighal jayega
Roughly translated, it means :
Your shining cheeks smoulder as if
They will burn the onlooker with full eyes
So fluid is this transient time as if
Your body will melt, if I ever touch it
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