My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part XXVIII, Actors' complaints about him and vice versa

When Habib Tanvir started with the Chattisgarhi Nacha actors , he got a troupe of nacha performers to Delhi and organized their stay. Nacha is a folk dance drama form with lot of satirical element in it. The performers were extremely live, great at improvisations and could turn on and off as they pleased. Habib Tanvir was trained in the proscenium theater though right from the beginning, Agra Bazar in 1954 he did show the inclination towards making theater easier than what must have been the practice at that time and later. The school of drama was a very different kind of style- urban theater with strong emphasis on the spoken word in Hindustani. The plays were also very urban. The folk element was missing- at least the time that I saw their plays. So, these chattisgarhi actors brought a lot of value to Habib Tanvir's theater. Then of course, music , singing , folk and tribal dances were very important part of his theater.

But when you met them and talked to them, the actors were always upset with Habib Saab. Why? Because they thought that they were betrayed by Habib Tanvir when it came to the moneys being shared between the actors and what Habib Tanvir made for himself through the theater. Now, I know this for a fact that the theater on most occasions did not make much money. The actors felt that it did but it seemed not to. There was a grant that the theater received from the government of India but other than that the only source of income remained the performances of its various plays at different venues in the country. Sometimes the money would be hardly commensurate but Habib Tanvir would still accept the offer of doing the show so that the repertory was in circulation. Yet, there is a fairly legitimate grouse that the actors had with him that he was still living in a decent apartment at Shyamla hills while the actors were paid a meagre salary. And thus they remained for their life time.

In one of the conversations I brought this up with Habib saab and he explained that the theater has all kinds of expenses. Pensions are being paid to people who were part of the theater but are now too old to act in the theater. Sometimes the medical care of the actors and the older actors also needs to be paid for. The moneys are limited and some times shows are taken up by the theater even if it was going into a loss and thus there was not much more the theater could do. However, more than all of this, he said if we somehow managed to pay the actors higher, they would disappear for six months. Since, the repertory depended on these actors it could not afford to lose them for such long periods. So, in short, that was how it was. Then also Habib Tanvir himself was able to afford an apartment in Bhopal quite late in his own life. He lived with restricted expenses. Everything in his house was budgeted. He drove a small car- a maruti Zen. So, the actors feeling that he was living in opulence while they received a raw deal was not probably that true though they should have received much more financially as they were some of the best talents that there was to see in Indian theater scene. Maybe, it was the nature of the art of theater and it remains so till date. There is hardly any money in it.

There were conflicts on this issue in the theater. This despite the fact that there was deep affection for each other. Habib Tanvir loved his actors and they respected him but there was always this underlying tension over finances. Naya Theater remained a creative powerhouse driven by Habib Tanvir despite this and kept functioning and producing great plays. I learnt soon enough that this complex relationship between the chattisgarhi actors and Habib Tanvir is not something that I need to meddle with, so, I remained quiet when the actors spoke about him and when sometimes he was upset with his actors.

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir : Part XXVIII With Kids- Parul and Gungun

Now there are acting and theater training schools across the world. We have our very own the 'National School of Drama' and various other state run institutions for learning the dramatic arts. The process is formal, there is a strict curriculum and probably the process not so organic as it ought to be. But for kids in Naya Theater, or the kids of Naya Theater actors- the two of them I interacted with closely and saw them grow in the theater made me realize how it really ought to be done. Ramchandar Singh, one of the senior actors in the theater has two daughters- Parul and Gungun, both of whom acted in Naya theater plays, they also travelled with the theater. They would tag along with their father for the rehearsals and also with the mother sometimes for the show. And then there were other kids like Dani, Wamiq's son who got introduced to stage at the highest level in our country through Naya theater. Dani though did not travel with the troupe so much.

Parul and Gungun would watch the rehearsals, move around on stage freely, they were never stopped by Habib Saab or anyone else. However, they somehow just learnt the discipline of a rehearsal. Would not enter the stage unnecessarily and would sometimes know each and every movement and line spoken by the actors on stage.

Parul would play the 'bandariya' on stage in Agra Bazar and then the child in Raj Rakta. She worked exactly like a professional actor. She would know her entries and exits. Then of course there was Habib Saab directing her. At these moments he was the gentlest. The kids called him 'Baba' . He would call them close to himself…explain to them in the simplest possible manner what they ought to do and they would execute and perform.

Sometimes when the shows were delayed and went way past her sleeping time Parul would delegate the job of waking her up to some of us and made sure that she was woken up. Not once in the years that I worked with Naya Theater, did I see Parul floundering on her entries. She would also calculate costume changes and ask for assistance from her co actors and work things out so that she manages it well.

Gungun was way too small when Parul started going on stage in Raj Rakta. She also wanted to be up there. Towards the climax of the play, the rajpurohit tries to perform bali on the child that the king is fond of and whom he considers his heir apparent. At the altar lies the child. Somehow Gungun also entered the stage and lied next to her sister. Their father was supposed to be performing this intense scene and he was surprised to see two children there. Well, Habib Saab did not pay much attention to this incident, in fact he only chuckled about these incidents. These were the joyous things for him in his theater, he simply enjoyed these things. But as Gungun went out of the stage she did get an earful from her mother. But as Parul grew in age and size Gungun replaced her as the actor playing the boy in Raj Rakta. And she performed with similar quality, though she did bring some of her own energy to the play. Habib Saab as ever was as gentle with her as he was with the other children. Well, when he worked with these children you could not even imagine that he was the hard task master that he was known to be. But then, as I said earlier, kids probably are the best performers and they understood his language better than the actors …sometimes!!!

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part XXVII Smoking in Bonn, irreverence

A few years before his death, there was a retrospective of his plays at Bonn in Germany. We were staying in a small hotel very close to the auditorium. Bonn had this special quality, it seemed like a very quiet city. Though the university was vibrant and there were a lot of young students who volunteered for this retrospective. The Naya Theater actors were supposed to get a small sum as their daily allowance for their lunch and dinner. The actors decided to save this money. So, the complimentary breakfast was something that was gorged upon and the poor ladies who ran the hotel had a tough time feeding the Naya Theater actors. So, that was a start.

But in the auditorium no one was allowed to smoke. Habib Saab had this element of irreverence and rebellion in his personality. He clearly stated that he needed to smoke his pipe as the rehearsals were on or else he could not think. Very reluctantly the organizers allowed him the privilege of smoking in the auditorium during the rehearsals but the other actors were told that they had to go out for their nicotine fix if they needed it. Habib saab felt great about it, he had managed to break a rule but Vijay Shukla did one better.

Vijay Shukla and some other actors went for a party at the University…well there was liquor and they had an opportunity to interact with the youth of the country especially the girls. The party lasted almost the whole night and when it came close to the time of the last train to leave, they panicked and rushed to the station. They had to get on to the train which was on the other side of the station, to catch it they would have to take the stairs and reach the platform across. Vijay Shukla in true Indian style jumped at the rails and crossed. By the time the officials could do anything the train had arrived and Vijay Shukla got on to it and he could not be caught. The actors successfully reached the hotel in the wee hours.

Next morning Vijay Shukla's feat was discussed and it reached Habib saab's ears. He chuckled and said , I thought I had gotten past the rules in Germany, Vijay Shukla has beaten me even at this!!!

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part XXVI - Simple or complex Part I

Naya Theater performances had an air of simplicity when you saw them. It seemed like a very linear story telling and there were simple stories being told. Nothing was such that came in the way of your viewing the performance and being with it. That is the hallmark of great work in theater.

The first ever production of Naya Theater I saw  was in 1989. That was Agra Bazar. I was a young school going student. Agra Bazar is based on the poetry of Nazir Akbarabadi, a poet who wrote all kinds of poetry. He was someone who wrote on the concerns of the common people which was quite unlike the times when classical languages were more respected than someone writing on simple things like kites, vegetables, eatables. But the poet did go beyond just plebeian poetry. He also wrote in praise of the Hindu gods and also about holi- regarded as a Hindu festival. It was symptomatic of a syncretic culture. Thus the poet becomes extremely important. The narrative was simple. One vegetable seller wants to sell his vegetables by singing in praise of them. He wants someone to write some poetry. No noted or aspiring poet would do that but Nazir. The poetry came in quite seamlessly in to the play through a device of two 'faqirs' who sang at different points in the play. Or through the characters who came into the bazaar and left. At one point I asked Habib saab if I could be a part of the crowd which moved around on the stage- I thought it would be a lot of fun. Since my character only entered the play towards the end of the second half, I thought it would be easy. But the movements that looked quite simple were not so simple after all and I realized that it was not that easy to be a part of Habib Tanvir's crowd. The play which ran for about three hours had about sixty characters and since everything was being played out in the bazaar, timing was of essence. Well, quite a complex task made to look so simple when you saw the play!!!

My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part XXVI I am very angry with you

Since I started working with Naya Theater in Habib Saab's last phase, I usually worked in smaller replacement parts. Once while I was talking to him, I said that I would like to work in a production with him from start to finish to be a part of the full process. He heard me, then the discussion veered off somewhere else and we started talking about other things. I remembered what I had told him but I was surprised to realize that he did too.

The troupe was in Kolkata working on Tagore's 'Visarjan' with Usha Ganguly's troupe. I received a call from him asking me to come to Kolkata for the production. I was confused. We had recently shifted to Mumbai and wanted to get started here. To be out of Mumbai for two months at that stage did not make any sense. Even so, I gathered all my courage and asked him if there were any roles that he wanted us to do in the play. He didn't say much on the phone but said ' Okay then you don't come'

I thought it was over. Some months later he called again and said that the play is ready and that he would like us to visit Kolkata to see the play and give feedback. ( This he did all the time, he would collect all his friends and ask them for a feedback. It did not mean that these friends were some great voices in the theater. He would just gather ideas from people who saw his initial rehearsals and shows to make certain changes to improve the play) So, we went to Kolkata. He saw us, welcomed us and then he said 'I am really angry with you that you didn't come' I said, 'but you only said I shouldn't come' To which he retorted 'because you asked whether I have a role for you, I wanted you to come for being a part of the process and you started about roles…that gets me really angry'.

He was not happy with the way the play shaped up in Kolkata. The partnership with Usha Ganguly's troupe also did not work out. The acting styles of the two troupes was so different that if you were in the audience you would feel that there are two plays running.

Later the play came to Delhi and then he made many more changes and I came into the play as the sutradhar and Nayan Rai. Wish had gone to Kolkata for those two months - maybe I would have got a better role and also been a part of a naya theater production from beginning to end.