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Post-Independence Bengali Theatre and Badal Sircar: The Creation of a New
Genre of Theatre.
Satyajit Pal
M.A. in English (BHU) B.Ed., NET
Bankura
WB.
Abstract: Bengali theatre has been playing a significant role in heralding and molding
innovative style and techniques of the theatre in the country from the colonial period. Hence it
has a prestigious position in the field of Indian drama. The dramatists who owe the honour for
this glorious height of the Bengali theatre are Rabindranath Tagore , Madhusudan Dutta, Bijan
Bhattachrya, Sombhu Mitra, Utpal Dutta etc. But in the post-independence period it was Badal
Sircar who presented a new genre and style of theatre which got immediacy and followed by
later on. The aim of the proposed article is to study the post-Independence Bengali theatre with
special emphasis on the craftsmanship of Badal Sircar as a playwright. It will highlight the
unconventional themes and novelty of dramatic techniques used by the contemporary Bengali
playwrights in their plays.
Keywords: Bengali theatre, herald (to proclaim), innovative, post-independence,
immediacy, craftsmanship.
Post-Independence Bengali Theatre and Badal Sircar: The Creation of a New
Genre of Theatre.
Drama, being a performative art, has an immediacy of appeal which poem or fiction may
not need. Initially drama was meant only to be staged. It is of recent origin that the drama is
written in the form of a text meant to be analyzed and interpreted by the academicians. Drama
as a theatre has had a glorious tradition and in India it has been a popular folk entertainment. In
Bengal Calcutta has been the epicenter of culture and art from the ancient time of British India.
From its very beginning in the early nineteenth century Bengali theatre heralds the path of
development in Indian drama. New dramatic canons that emerged in India after 1947 flourished
at first in Bengal in the hands of some gifted playwrights, producers, directors, and actors who
wrote and produced plays in Bengali in western model and took the theatre in Bengal and
Bengali drama to the zenith of its glory. This new Bengali theatre became the most advanced
and powerful theatre of the country. Besides Shakespeare and Moliere, playwrights like
Sophocles, Euripides, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekov, Tolstoy, Sartre, Camus, Brecht and many
others were made available to Bengali theatre. For the young generation of Bengal theatre
became an attractive means of creative expression and a source of profit. They drew inspiration
not only from the western drama but also borrowed the most significant artistic features and
ideas from it. The theatre for them was not a mere pastime or a means of entertainment, but a
way of life, a vehicle for exploring reality and the meaning of existence. At first directors like
Sombhu Mitra, Utpal Dutta, Ajitesh Bandopadhyay came to the fore and completely changed
the shape and level of the Bengali theatre. Infact productions like Rakta Karabi( Rabindranath
Tagore), Dashachakra and Putul Khela (Ibsen) all by Sombhu Mitra, Angar by Utpal Dutta,
Natyakarer Sandhane Chhati Charitra (Pirandello’s Six Characters in search of an Author), Tin
Vol. 1, Issue 3 (December 2015) Dr. Siddhartha Sharma
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An International Refereed English e-Journal
Poysar Pala( Bertolt Brecht’s Three Penny Opera) all by Ajitesh Bandopadhyay and his
‘Nandikar’ group are theatrical creations of unprecedented artistic achievement in the Bengali
as well as in the Indian theatre.
The founding of IPTA in 1943 was an epoch making event in the field of Indian theatre
and it encouraged to flourish the Post-Independence Indian theatre. It gave emphasis on the
development of experimental forms outside the naturalistic confines of commercial theatre to
present real contemporary struggles against fascism, imperialism, and economic exploitation. It
committed to a national perspective i.e. Indian drama must be rooted in the national tradition.
The eminent Post-Independence Bengali playwrights like Sombhu Mitra, Utpal Dutt being
influenced by this new wave of modern Indian drama had tended to focus on the contemporary
issues and problems of Bengali life. So their writings were soaked with the characteristics of
leftist movement which was an emerging event then in West Bengal. Thus they differentiated
themselves ideologically from the commercial Bengali theatre.
This contemporaneity of Bengali theatre was inaugurated with the path-breaking play
Nabanna written by Bijon Bhattacharya in 1944. Then we can mention successively the
production and performance of different such plays like Sombhu Mitra’s Ulukhagra, Utpal
Dutt’s Kallol, Tiner Talawar etc. The oppression made by the bourgeois government in West
Bengal found a way to revolt against the system through these plays.
Utpal Dutt was one of the pioneering figures in the field of Indian political drama. In
Bengal he first used non-Brechtian form to express his political ideas. And for this purpose he
produced his revolutionary jatra theatre replicating the qualities and condition of Brechtian
theatre. By emphasizing the need for a popular communist uprising, Dutt demonstrated the
possibility of escaping the oppressive regime of bourgeois government. Like his heroes who are
ordinary human beings with extraordinary zeal, the common man must be angry enough to
force a change in circumstances. In this respect Bharucha comments, “Dutt’s theatre is most
true to its revolutionary principles when it is also blatantly theatrical.” (1983, 121). [1]
In that golden period of Bengali theatre Badal Sircar appeared to the scenario. A
number of his creatively significant and original plays like Evam Indrajit, Baki Itihas, Pagla
Ghora brought to Bengali dramatic literature the status of creative work. In dramatic form and
technique, these plays showed, at a sensitive and subtle level the influence of modern and
experimental western styles. His anti-traditional experimentation with the dramatic techniques
and the inadequacy of Naturalistic theatre forced him to give birth of the third theatre. Unlike
his other contemporary Indian playwrights like Vijoy Tendulkar (1928-2008) and Girish
Karnad(b.1938) Sircar was different in presentation of the theme of his plays. He feels that
“inspite of the popularity of the traditional and folk theatres in the villages, the ideas and the
themes treated remain mostly stagnant and sterile, unconnected with their own problems of
emancipation- social, economic and cultural.” [2]. Hence, the evils of modern life , anxiety of
middle class in the Post- Partition era, existential crisis of the young generation , socio-political
degradation etc are found the best medium to be expressed in his third theatre. At the same time
he showed novelty and innovation both in form and content of his plays.
Being a socially committed artist and a member of undivided Communist Party Badal
Sircar propagates a social philosophy that advocates egalitarianism in society and removal of
economic inequalities in mankind. His plays often talk about a political doctrine that all people
have the same political, economic, social, and civil rights. This philosophy is echoed in his play
‘Hattamalar Oparey’ translated as Beyond the Land of Hattamala (1977):
Vol. 1, Issue 3 (December 2015) Dr. Siddhartha Sharma
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An International Refereed English e-Journal
“ We’ll share everything we have together
Whatever we need in this world, whatever,
We’ll make it all if we work together
Why go on shopping rampages?
Why do we slave for mere wages?” (P-38.) [3]
Tension, stress, boredom, monotony, and repetitiveness of daily life create a crisis in the life of
middle class people. Delineating this pale, insipid, lusterless picture of common man in the
canvas of his writing Sircar upholds the absurdity in existence of human being in this world.
The ‘nothingness’ of man’s existence is engraved in the works of great western playwrights like
Albert Camus(1913-1960), Alfred Jarry ( 1873-1907), Antonin Artaud (1896-1948), Samuel
Backett(1906-1989) , Eugene Ionesco (1909- 1994), Arthur Adamov(1908-1970) or Edward
Albee(1928- ), but in the domain of Indian drama Sircar portrays this for the first time. This
‘nothingness’ is found in his epoch making play Evam Indrajit(1963) :
“Indrajit: There is just a large wheel going round and round. And we go round and
round with it.(P.18).
Writer: Amal, Vimal, Kamal. And Indrajit. And Manasi. From home to school.
From school to college. From college to the world. They are growing up. They are going round.
Round and round and round. (P.19).” [4]
Yes, every human being is moving like the same meaningless ‘gyre’ of W. B. Yeats or it is the
same purposeless life as it was once seen by Shakespeare:
“Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
……………………………………………
………………………………it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.” ( Macbeth: Act V, Scene V)
Or
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.” ( As you Like It: Act II, Scene VII)
Sircar has used the myth of Indrajit from the great epic The Ramayana to examine some of the
frustrations and dilemmas of the Indian middle class, and the reality of poverty and
unemployment at the time. The very title “ Evam Indrajit” exemplifies modern man’s state of
identity crisis. He prefers to be addressed as Nirmal, like Amal, Kamal, or Vimal because he
knows the meaninglessness of his name in the modern situation. Therefore, the bitter irony of
his name sometimes mortifies him:
“Manasi: Indrajit…
Indrajit: No, Manasi, don’t call me Indrajit, please don’t . I am Nirmal. Amal,
Vimal, Kamal, and Nirmal.
Writer: Indrajit…
Indrajit: You must be mistaken. I am Nirmal Kumar Roy.
Writer: But you are not looking for promotion—or building a house—or
developing a business scheme. How can you be Nirmal?
Indrajit: But…but I’ am just an ordinary man.” (P-59) [5]
In Baki Itihas, a classic text in the canon of post-independence literary drama, Sircar
ruthlessly interrogates the generation of sixties about the dreary middle class obsessions with
Vol. 1, Issue 3 (December 2015) Dr. Siddhartha Sharma
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owning a home, making a career and getting promotions in life. Along with Evam Indrajit this
play also unfolds the preprogrammed repetitiveness of middle class life in the modern Indian
metropolis (in this case, Kolkata) as an existential dead end. Sharad, one of the central
characters of the play, like Amal, Vimal, Kamal in Evam Indrajit is imprisoned in the world of
mechanical gestures like passing the exam, job, marriage, family and children. Therefore,
Seetanath comments on the life of Sharad in the following ways, “There was only one meaning
to become man. Study, learn, pass the exam. To stand on one’s own feet which means get a job.
Which in other words meant that by regularly selling a big chunk of one’s self, establish a
timely boarding and lodging arrangement.” [6]. Hence, for Seetanath living in this absurd world
is an act of passivity too. The play echoes Cleanth Brooks’ concept of “Death in life” made in
order to point out the meaningless existence and repetitiveness of modern people in wasteland
as delineated by T.S. Eliot in his classic poem The Waste Land:
“….hot water at ten
And if rains, a closed car at four.”
Therefore, Seetanath thinks that it is better to die than lead a meaningless life when death is the
ultimate reality of this lurid world. To justify his thought he carries with him a register
containing images of human atrocity from the time of the Mohabharata to the present, including
the building of the pyramids in ancient Egypt, the feeding of Christians to lions at the colosseum
at Rome, the punishment of Joan of Arc, the African slave trade, the Nazi concentration camps,
Hiroshima, and, finally Vietnam. He parallels this bizarre history of death with the history of
man’s life:
“Sharad: Why have you selected these particular pictures so carefully?
Seetanath: Well, this is what history is.
Sharad: History!
Seetanath: The history of mankind. The history of life.
Sharad: That’s a lie! This is the history of death.
Seetanath: (with a smile) What is life without death?” [7].
Thus, Seetanath erases the distinction between private and public, individual and universal
experience by describing his suicide as the only rational response to the accumulation of misery
that is recorded human history.
Sircar was worried not only about the contemporary hazards of Bengal or India but also
his thought was encircled with the problems of the whole world. There lies his universality as a
playwright. In Tringsha Shatabdi he exposes the inhuman cynical brutality of the atomic
bombing of Hiroshima during the Second World War, and the terrible aftermath with its moral
and social implications for everyone who has survived. The play makes an agonizing reappraisal
of the deep crisis in which humanity finds itself today and contains a forceful indictment of those
responsible for it.
Now if we look at the style and technique of Sircar’s plays we can observe that themes
and techniques of Naturalistic play merge with an experiment of form to adapt the anti-
traditional themes of his drama. For the naturalism and realistic approach of his plays he might
be influenced by Emile Zola’s “Theatre Libre” or “Free Theatre”. Besides Zola, he was,
probably, influenced by some of the ideas and methods of Richard Schechner, the welknown
New York director and exponent of the Environmental Theatre. Jerzy Grotowski’s ‘Poor
Theatre’ in Poland also encouraged him in constituting his ‘Third Theatre’ when he first came in
contact with him in 1969. But he develops an approach and style of his own. To mold his
Vol. 1, Issue 3 (December 2015) Dr. Siddhartha Sharma
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unconventional theme into a new and novel shape Badal Sircar gave birth of the third theatre.
His intention was to bridge the gap between the actors and spectators. He did not like any
artificiality. Therefore his plays were staged devoid of any artificial lights, sound, elaborate
costumes, props and make up. Perhaps, keeping in mind Schillar’s idea that sight is always more
powerful to man than description, Sircar wanted to use the drama as a weapon. Using his sword
like pen he always endeavors to revolt against injustice, hypocrisy, and setbacks in society.
Therefore to reach a greater number of audiences and to give them his message he moved to
perform his plays in an open air stage. Thus Badal Sircar created a new genre of theatre which he
preferred to call as ‘third theatre’.
References:
1. Bharucha, Rustam. Rehearsals of Revolution: The Political Theatre of Bengal. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press. 1983.
2. Sircar, Badal. The Third Theatre, Pioneer, New Delhi, 1992.
3. Introduction to Beyond the Land of Hattamala and Scandal in Fairy Land (Translated from the
original Bengali by Suchhanda Sarkar). Calcutta : Seagull Books. 2003.
4.Sircar, Badal. Evam Indrajit tr. Girish Karnad. Three Modern Plays, O.U.P. Delhi, 1994.
5. Sircar, Badal. Evam Indrajit tr. Girish Karnad.
6. Sircar, Badal. Baki Itihas. Translated into Hindi by Nemichandra Jain. Delhi: Akshar
Prakashan, 1969.
7. Ibid.
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