Sudhanva Deshpande, senior member of the Jan Natya Manch (Janam), one of the oldest street theatre groups in the country urged young people in Goa and across India to remain fearless and continue doing street theatre.
Sudhanva who has worked with the Late Safdar Hashmi and Moloyashree Hashmi, the co-founders of Janam was speaking on the topic: “Circle in the Square: 50 years of street theatre” at the concluding day of the 12th Goa Arts and Literature Festival at the International Centre Goa on Saturday.
Tracing Janam’s journey in street theatre through an effective power-point presentation, Sudhanva said that the trials and tribulations of the poor and underprivileged people were always central to their story telling. “Street theatre needs very little space. We can perform in the most minimal of spaces and to the smallest number of people,” Sudhanva said.
He however mentioned how Janam had been primarily performing in the jhuggis and bastis of the working class people of Delhi and other northern Indian towns and cities.
Citing some of the more important street plays that they had performed, Sudhanva mentioned “Machine” which is short 12 minute play which speaks about the exploitation of workers at the hands of selfish factory owners. “It was a play that immediately resonated with the factory workers,” Sudhanva said.
Sudhanva also mentioned “Chakka Jam”, their 1988 play which saw a female factory worker demanding the need for a children’s crèche inside the factory.
Remembering Safdar Hashmi, co-founder of Janam who was brutally murdered near Delhi while performing a street play by political forces in 1989, Sudhanva said, “Our group performed the same play at the exact spot where Safdar had been murdered, exactly two days after his death.”
