Habib Tanvir
Encyclopedia
Habib Tanvir was one of the most popular Indian Urdu
, Hindi playwright
s, a theatre director, poet
and actor
. He is the writer of plays such as, Agra Bazar (1954) and Charandas Chor (1975). A pioneer in Urdu
, Hindi theatre
, he is most known for his work with Chhattisgarh
i tribals, at the Naya Theatre, a theatre company he founded in 1959 in Bhopal, and went on to include indigenous performance forms such as nacha, to create not only a new theatrical language, but also milestones such as Charandas Chor, Gaon ka Naam Sasural, Mor Naam Damad and Kamdeo ka Apna Basant Ritu ka Sapna.
For him true "theatre of the people" existed in the villages, which he strived to bring to the urban "educated", employing both folk performers as actors alongside urban actors. He died on 8 June 2009 at Bhopal after a three week long illness. Upon his death, he was the last of pioneering actor-managers in Indian theatre, which included Sisir Bhaduri
, Utpal Dutt
and Prithviraj Kapoor
, and often he managed plays with mammoth cast, such as Charandas Chor which included an orchestra of 72 people on stage and Agra Bazaar had 52 people.
During his lifetime he won several national and international awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
in 1969, Padma Shri
in 1983, Kalidas Samman
1990, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
in 1996, and the Padma Bhushan
in 2002; apart from that he had also been nominated to become a member of the Upper House of Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha
(1972–1978). His play 'Charandas Chor
' (Charandas, The Thief) got him the Fringe Firsts Award
at Edinburgh International Drama Festival in 1982, and in 2007, it was credited for "an innovative dramaturgy equally impelled by Brecht and folk idioms, Habib Tanvir seduces across language barriers in this his all-time biggest hit about a Robin Hood-style thief" as it was included in the Hindustan Times
' list of 'India’s 60 Best works since Independence'.
(erstwhile Madhapradesh) to Hafiz Ahmed Khan, who hailed from Peshawar
.
He passed his matriculation from Laurie Municipal High School, Raipur, and later completed his B.A. from Morris College, Nagpur
in 1944. Thereafter he attend Aligarh Muslim University
, for a year doing his M.A first year.
Early in life, he started writing poetry and took upon a takhalluz, pen name, Tanvir, and soon he was being called, Habib Tanvir.
(AIR) Bombay as a producer, while in Bombay, he wrote songs for Urdu, Hindi films and even acted in a few. He also joined the Progressive Writers' Association (PWA) and became an integral part of Indian People's Theatre Association
(IPTA) as an actor. Later, when most of prominent IPTA members were imprisoned for opposing the British rule, he was asked to take over the organization.
In 1954, he moved to New Delhi
, and worked with Qudsia Zaidi’s Hindustani Theatre, and also worked with Children's theatre, and authored numerous plays. It was during this period he met actor-director, Moneeka Mishra, whom he was to later marry. Later in the same year, he produced his first significant play 'Agra Bazar', based on the works and times of the plebian 18th-century Urdu poet, Nazir Akbarabadi, an older poet in the generation of Mirza Ghalib
. In this play he used local residents and folk artist from Okhla
village in Delhi and students of Jamia Millia Islamia
creating a palette never seen before in Indian theatre, a play not staged in a confined space, rather a bazaar, a marketplace. This experience with non-trained actors, and folk artists later blossomed with his work with folk artists of Chhattisgarh.
(1956). For the next two years, he travelled through Europe, watching various theatre activities. One of the highlights of this period, was his eight-month stay in Berlin
in 1956, during which he got to see several plays of Bertolt Brecht
, produced by Berliner Ensemble
, just a few months after Brecht's death. This proved to a lasting influence on him, as in the coming years, he was also used local idioms in his plays, to express trans-cultural tales and ideologies. This over the years, gave rise to a 'theatre of roots', which was marked by an utter simplicity in style, presentation and technique, yet remaining eloquent and powerfully experiential.
's Sanskrit work, Mrichakatika, it became his first important production in Chhattisgarhi. This was the result of the work he has been doing since his return, with six folk actors from Chhattisgarh. There was no turning back from there. This led to the foundation of 'Naya Theatre' a theatre company he founded in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
in 1959, along with his wife, Moneeka Mishra, also a theatre person.
In his exploratory phase, 1970–73, he broke free from one more theatre restriction, he no longer made the folk artists with whom he had been performing all his plays speak Hindi, and instead switched to Chhattisgarhi, a local language, they were more accustomed to. Later, he even started experimenting with 'Pandavani
', a folk singing style from the region and temple rituals, making his plays stand out amidst the backdrop of plays which were still using traditional theatre techniques like blocking movements or fixing lights on paper. Soon spontaneity and improvisation became the hallmark of the new style, where the folk artists were allowed greater freedom of expression.
A further evolution was seen in 1972 with his next venture with Chhattisgarhi Nach style, a play titled 'Gaon Ka Naam Sasural, Mor Naam Damaad', based on a comic folk tale, where an old man falls in young woman, who eventually elopes with a young man.
The technique has finally evolved to an accomplished form, by the time he produced his seminal play, 'Charandas Chor
' in 1975, which immediately created a whole new idiom in modern India theatre; whose highlight was Nach - a chorus that provided commentary through song. Later, he collaborated with Shyam Benegal
, when he adapted the play to a feature length film, by the same name, starring Smita Patil and Lalu Ram. In 1980, he directed the play Moti Ram ka Satyagraha for Janam (Jan Natya Manch) on the request of Safdar Hashmi
.
During his career, Habib has acted in over nine feature films, including Richard Attenborough
's film, Gandhi
(1982), 'Black and White' and in a yet-to-be-released film on the Bhopal gas tragedy.
His first brush with controversy came about in the 1990s, with his production of a traditional Chhattisgarhi play about religious hypocrisy, 'Ponga Pandit'. The play was based on a folk tale and had been created by Chhattisgarhi theatre artists in the 1930s. Though he had been producing it since the sixties, in the changed social climate after the Babri Masjid demolition, the play caused quiet an uproar amongst Hindu fundamentalists, especially the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), whose supporters disrupted many of its shows, and even emptied the auditoriums, yet he continued to show it all over.
His Chhatisgarhi folk troupe, surprised again, with his rendition of Asghar Wajahat
’s 'Jisne Lahore Nahin Dekhya' in 1992. Then in 1993 came, 'Kamdeo Ka Apna Basant Ritu Ka Sapna', Tanvir's Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". In 1995, he was invited to the United States by the Chicago Actors Ensemble, where he wrote his only English language play, 'The Broken Bridge'. In 2002, he directed, 'Zahareeli Hawa', a translation of 'Bhopal
' by the Canadian-Indian playwright Rahul Varma
, based on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy
. During his illustrious career he brought works from all genres to stage, from ancient Sanskrit works by Sudrak, Bhasa, Visakhadatta and Bhavabhuti; to European classics by Shakespeare, Molière and Goldoni; modern masters Brecht, Garcia, Lorca, Gorky, and Oscar Wilde; Tagore, Asghar Wajahat, Shankar Shesh, Safdar Hashmi, Rahul Varma, stories by Premchand, Stefan Zweig and Vijaydan Detha, apart from an array of Chhattisgarhi folk tales.
, the annual theatre festival of National School of Drama
, Delhi, a tribute exhibition dedicated to life, works and theatre of Habib Tanvir and B.V. Karanth was displayed. The 13th Bharat Rang Mahotsav
opened with an Assamese adaptation of his classic play Charandas Chor
, directed by Anup Hazarika, a NSD graduate.,
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, Hindi playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
s, a theatre director, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is the writer of plays such as, Agra Bazar (1954) and Charandas Chor (1975). A pioneer in Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, Hindi theatre
Hindi theatre
Hindi theatre primarily refers to theatre performed in the Hindi language, including dialects such as Khari boli and Hindustani. Hindi theatre is produced mainly in North India, and some parts of West India and Central India, which include Mumbai and Bhopal...
, he is most known for his work with Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India, formed when the 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking South-Eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained separate statehood on 1 November 2000....
i tribals, at the Naya Theatre, a theatre company he founded in 1959 in Bhopal, and went on to include indigenous performance forms such as nacha, to create not only a new theatrical language, but also milestones such as Charandas Chor, Gaon ka Naam Sasural, Mor Naam Damad and Kamdeo ka Apna Basant Ritu ka Sapna.
For him true "theatre of the people" existed in the villages, which he strived to bring to the urban "educated", employing both folk performers as actors alongside urban actors. He died on 8 June 2009 at Bhopal after a three week long illness. Upon his death, he was the last of pioneering actor-managers in Indian theatre, which included Sisir Bhaduri
Sisir Bhaduri
Shishir Kumar Bhaduri or Sisir Kumar Bhaduri stage actor and theatre founder, was born on at Ramrajatala in Howrah district in West Bengal. He passed the Entrance examination in 1905 from Bangabashi School, graduated in arts from Scottish Church College in 1910, and did his MA in English...
, Utpal Dutt
Utpal Dutt
Utpal Dutt was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali Theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the 'Little Theater Group' in 1947, which enacted many English, Shakespearean and Brecht plays, in a period...
and Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor , 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was a pioneer of Indian theatre and of the Hindi film industry, who started his career as an actor, in the silent era of Hindi cinema, associated with IPTA and who founded Prithvi Theatres, a travelling theatre company based in Mumbai, in...
, and often he managed plays with mammoth cast, such as Charandas Chor which included an orchestra of 72 people on stage and Agra Bazaar had 52 people.
During his lifetime he won several national and international awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists since 2003 of Rs. 50,000, a citation, an angavastram , and a tamrapatra...
in 1969, Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
in 1983, Kalidas Samman
Kalidas samman
The Kalidas Samman is a prestigious arts award presented annually by the government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language.The Kalidas Samman...
1990, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, also, Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Sadasya is an honour for the performing arts in India...
in 1996, and the Padma Bhushan
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
in 2002; apart from that he had also been nominated to become a member of the Upper House of Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
(1972–1978). His play 'Charandas Chor
Charandas Chor
Charandas Chor is 1975 children's film made by noted director Shyam Benegal, based on the famous play by Habib Tanvir, which itself was an adaptation of a classical Rajasthani folktale by Vijaydan Detha...
' (Charandas, The Thief) got him the Fringe Firsts Award
Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
at Edinburgh International Drama Festival in 1982, and in 2007, it was credited for "an innovative dramaturgy equally impelled by Brecht and folk idioms, Habib Tanvir seduces across language barriers in this his all-time biggest hit about a Robin Hood-style thief" as it was included in the Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....
' list of 'India’s 60 Best works since Independence'.
Early life
Born in Raipur, ChhattisgarhChhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India, formed when the 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking South-Eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained separate statehood on 1 November 2000....
(erstwhile Madhapradesh) to Hafiz Ahmed Khan, who hailed from Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
.
He passed his matriculation from Laurie Municipal High School, Raipur, and later completed his B.A. from Morris College, Nagpur
Nagpur
Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...
in 1944. Thereafter he attend Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University ,is a residential academic university, established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as Mohammedan Angelo-Oriental College and later granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 1920...
, for a year doing his M.A first year.
Early in life, he started writing poetry and took upon a takhalluz, pen name, Tanvir, and soon he was being called, Habib Tanvir.
Career
In 1945, he moved to Bombay, and joined All India RadioAll India Radio
All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
(AIR) Bombay as a producer, while in Bombay, he wrote songs for Urdu, Hindi films and even acted in a few. He also joined the Progressive Writers' Association (PWA) and became an integral part of Indian People's Theatre Association
Indian People's Theatre Association
Indian People’s Theatre Association was an association of leftist theatre-artists and others mostly based in Kolkata, West Bengal, Mumbai and Assam, India. Its goal was to bring cultural awakening among the people of India. It was the cultural wing of the Communist Party of India...
(IPTA) as an actor. Later, when most of prominent IPTA members were imprisoned for opposing the British rule, he was asked to take over the organization.
In 1954, he moved to New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, and worked with Qudsia Zaidi’s Hindustani Theatre, and also worked with Children's theatre, and authored numerous plays. It was during this period he met actor-director, Moneeka Mishra, whom he was to later marry. Later in the same year, he produced his first significant play 'Agra Bazar', based on the works and times of the plebian 18th-century Urdu poet, Nazir Akbarabadi, an older poet in the generation of Mirza Ghalib
Mirza Ghalib
Dabir-ul-Mulk, Najm-ud-Daula Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan , pen-name Ghalib and Asad , was a classical Urdu and Persian poet from India during British colonial rule...
. In this play he used local residents and folk artist from Okhla
Okhla
Okhla, is a neighbourhood around the old village in South Delhi district, though it is most known as the Okhla Industrial Area or Okhla Industrial Estate, an industrial suburb of New Delhi in South Delhi and mainly divided in three phases...
village in Delhi and students of Jamia Millia Islamia
Jamia Millia Islamia
Jamia Millia Islamia is an Indian Central University located in Delhi. It was established at Aligarh in United Provinces, India in 1920. It became a Central University by an act of the Indian Parliament in 1988...
creating a palette never seen before in Indian theatre, a play not staged in a confined space, rather a bazaar, a marketplace. This experience with non-trained actors, and folk artists later blossomed with his work with folk artists of Chhattisgarh.
Stay in Europe
In 1955, now in his 30's, Habib moved to England, he trained in Acting at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) (1955) and in Direction at Bristol Old Vic Theatre SchoolBristol Old Vic Theatre School
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence Olivier in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the Faculty of Creative Arts of the University of the...
(1956). For the next two years, he travelled through Europe, watching various theatre activities. One of the highlights of this period, was his eight-month stay in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in 1956, during which he got to see several plays of Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, produced by Berliner Ensemble
Berliner Ensemble
The Berliner Ensemble is a German theatre company established by playwright Bertolt Brecht and his wife, Helene Weigel in January 1949 in East Berlin...
, just a few months after Brecht's death. This proved to a lasting influence on him, as in the coming years, he was also used local idioms in his plays, to express trans-cultural tales and ideologies. This over the years, gave rise to a 'theatre of roots', which was marked by an utter simplicity in style, presentation and technique, yet remaining eloquent and powerfully experiential.
Return to India
A deeply inspired Habib returned in 1958 and took directing full-time. He produced, 'Mitti ki Gaadi' post-London play, based on ShudrakaSudraka
' was an Indian King. Three Sanskrit plays are ascribed to him - Mricchakatika , Vinavasavadatta, and a bhana , Padmaprabhritaka.. He has been identified as Abhira King Indranigupta, who used the pen name Sudraka.- References :* Ryder, Arthur William. Translator...
's Sanskrit work, Mrichakatika, it became his first important production in Chhattisgarhi. This was the result of the work he has been doing since his return, with six folk actors from Chhattisgarh. There was no turning back from there. This led to the foundation of 'Naya Theatre' a theatre company he founded in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
in 1959, along with his wife, Moneeka Mishra, also a theatre person.
In his exploratory phase, 1970–73, he broke free from one more theatre restriction, he no longer made the folk artists with whom he had been performing all his plays speak Hindi, and instead switched to Chhattisgarhi, a local language, they were more accustomed to. Later, he even started experimenting with 'Pandavani
Pandavani
Padavani is a folk singing style of musical narration of tales from ancient epic Mahabharata with musical accompaniment and Bhima as hero....
', a folk singing style from the region and temple rituals, making his plays stand out amidst the backdrop of plays which were still using traditional theatre techniques like blocking movements or fixing lights on paper. Soon spontaneity and improvisation became the hallmark of the new style, where the folk artists were allowed greater freedom of expression.
A further evolution was seen in 1972 with his next venture with Chhattisgarhi Nach style, a play titled 'Gaon Ka Naam Sasural, Mor Naam Damaad', based on a comic folk tale, where an old man falls in young woman, who eventually elopes with a young man.
The technique has finally evolved to an accomplished form, by the time he produced his seminal play, 'Charandas Chor
Charandas Chor
Charandas Chor is 1975 children's film made by noted director Shyam Benegal, based on the famous play by Habib Tanvir, which itself was an adaptation of a classical Rajasthani folktale by Vijaydan Detha...
' in 1975, which immediately created a whole new idiom in modern India theatre; whose highlight was Nach - a chorus that provided commentary through song. Later, he collaborated with Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...
, when he adapted the play to a feature length film, by the same name, starring Smita Patil and Lalu Ram. In 1980, he directed the play Moti Ram ka Satyagraha for Janam (Jan Natya Manch) on the request of Safdar Hashmi
Safdar Hashmi
Safdar Hashmi was a Communist playwright, actor, director, lyricist, and theorist, chiefly associated with Street theatre in India, and is still considered an important voice in political theatre in India....
.
During his career, Habib has acted in over nine feature films, including Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
's film, Gandhi
Gandhi (film)
Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
(1982), 'Black and White' and in a yet-to-be-released film on the Bhopal gas tragedy.
His first brush with controversy came about in the 1990s, with his production of a traditional Chhattisgarhi play about religious hypocrisy, 'Ponga Pandit'. The play was based on a folk tale and had been created by Chhattisgarhi theatre artists in the 1930s. Though he had been producing it since the sixties, in the changed social climate after the Babri Masjid demolition, the play caused quiet an uproar amongst Hindu fundamentalists, especially the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), whose supporters disrupted many of its shows, and even emptied the auditoriums, yet he continued to show it all over.
His Chhatisgarhi folk troupe, surprised again, with his rendition of Asghar Wajahat
Asghar Wajahat
Syed Asghar Wajahat, popularly known as Asghar Wajahat , is a Hindi scholar, fiction writer, novelist, playwright, an independent documentary filmmaker and a television scriptwriter, who is most known for his work, 'Saat Aasmaan' and his acclaimed play, 'Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya, O Jamyai Nai', based...
’s 'Jisne Lahore Nahin Dekhya' in 1992. Then in 1993 came, 'Kamdeo Ka Apna Basant Ritu Ka Sapna', Tanvir's Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". In 1995, he was invited to the United States by the Chicago Actors Ensemble, where he wrote his only English language play, 'The Broken Bridge'. In 2002, he directed, 'Zahareeli Hawa', a translation of 'Bhopal
Bhopal (play)
Bhopal is a play by Canadian playwright Rahul Varma about the Bhopal disaster.-Production History:It premiered in 2001 produced by Teesri Duniya and directed by Jack Langedijk...
' by the Canadian-Indian playwright Rahul Varma
Rahul Varma
Rahul Varma is a Canadian playwright.He attended college at the University of Lucknow, and moved to Canada in 1976. He co-founded Teesri Duniya Theatre in 1981, and became its Artistic Director in 1986. He began Teesri Duniya's quarterly magazine, alt.theatre, in 1998...
, based on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy
Bhopal disaster
The Bhopal disaster also known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy was a gas leak incident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes. It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India...
. During his illustrious career he brought works from all genres to stage, from ancient Sanskrit works by Sudrak, Bhasa, Visakhadatta and Bhavabhuti; to European classics by Shakespeare, Molière and Goldoni; modern masters Brecht, Garcia, Lorca, Gorky, and Oscar Wilde; Tagore, Asghar Wajahat, Shankar Shesh, Safdar Hashmi, Rahul Varma, stories by Premchand, Stefan Zweig and Vijaydan Detha, apart from an array of Chhattisgarhi folk tales.
Legacy
In 2010, at the 12th Bharat Rang MahotsavBharat Rang Mahotsav
Bharat Rang Mahotsav , or the National Theatre Festival, established in 1999, is the annual theatre festival of National School of Drama , New Delhi, India's premier theatre training institute of Govt. of India...
, the annual theatre festival of National School of Drama
National School of Drama
National School of Drama is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India, established . It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and became an independent school in 1975...
, Delhi, a tribute exhibition dedicated to life, works and theatre of Habib Tanvir and B.V. Karanth was displayed. The 13th Bharat Rang Mahotsav
Bharat Rang Mahotsav
Bharat Rang Mahotsav , or the National Theatre Festival, established in 1999, is the annual theatre festival of National School of Drama , New Delhi, India's premier theatre training institute of Govt. of India...
opened with an Assamese adaptation of his classic play Charandas Chor
Charandas Chor
Charandas Chor is 1975 children's film made by noted director Shyam Benegal, based on the famous play by Habib Tanvir, which itself was an adaptation of a classical Rajasthani folktale by Vijaydan Detha...
, directed by Anup Hazarika, a NSD graduate.,
Plays
- Agra Bazar (1954)
- Shatranj Ke Mohrey (1954)
- Lala Shoharat Rai (1954)
- Mitti ki Gaadi (1958)
- Gaon ke naon Sasural, mor naon Damand (1973)
- Charandas Chor (1975)
- Uttar Ram Charitra (1977)
- Bahadur kalarin(1978)
- Ponga Pandit (1960s)
- Ek Aurat Hypathia bhi Thee (1980s)
- Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya (1990)
- Kamdeo ka Apna Basant Ritu ka Sapna (1993)
- The Broken Bridge (1995)
- Zahreeli Hawa (2002)
- Raj Rakt (2006)
Filmography
- Foot Path (1953)
- Rahi (1953)
- Charandas ChorCharandas ChorCharandas Chor is 1975 children's film made by noted director Shyam Benegal, based on the famous play by Habib Tanvir, which itself was an adaptation of a classical Rajasthani folktale by Vijaydan Detha...
(1975) (lyrics and script) - Staying On (1980) (TV)
- GandhiGandhi (film)Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
(1982) - Yeh Woh Manzil to Nahin (1987)
- Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1986) (TV)
- Hero HiralalHero HiralalHero Hiralal is a 1988 film directed by Ketan Mehta. It is a movie about an auto rickshaw driver who falls in love with a film actress.The movie had some good performances by the lead actors and by Saeed Jaffrey and Satish Shah in their supporting roles....
(1988) - Prahaar (1991)
- The Burning Season (1993)
- The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey (2005)
- Black & White (2008)
Awards & honours
- Sangeet Natak Akademi AwardSangeet Natak Akademi AwardSangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists since 2003 of Rs. 50,000, a citation, an angavastram , and a tamrapatra...
1969 - Padma ShriPadma ShriPadma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
1983 - Kalidas SammanKalidas sammanThe Kalidas Samman is a prestigious arts award presented annually by the government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language.The Kalidas Samman...
1990 - Sangeet Natak Akademi FellowshipSangeet Natak Akademi FellowshipThe Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, also, Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Sadasya is an honour for the performing arts in India...
in 1996 - Padma BhushanPadma BhushanThe Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
in 2002 - Nominated as a member of the Upper House of Indian Parliament, the Rajya SabhaRajya SabhaThe Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
(1972–1978)
Further reading
- On the Theatre of Habib Tanvir The Dramatic touch of difference: theatre, own and foreign, by Erika Fischer-Lichte, Josephine Riley, Michael Gissenwehrer. Published by Gunter Narr Verlag, 1990. ISBN 3823340239. Page 221-233.
External links
- Habib Tanvir: Making of a Legend, Samar, 2001
- Super trouper : Habib Tanvir
- Remembering Habib Tanvir and his play Agra Bazar
- http://www.teesriduniya.com/tanvir.html Rahul Varma's Tribute to Habib Tanvir
- http://www.teesriduniya.com/productions.html Rahul Varma's newest play mentored by Habib Tanvir