Bansi Kaul (23 August 1949 – 6 February 2021) was an Indian theatre director and the founder of Rang Vidushak, a theatre group in Bhopal. He was a recipient of the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, India's fourth highest civilian honor, in 2014, and the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

in 1995. Some of his notable plays included ''Aala Afsar, Kahan Kabir,'' and ''Sidhi Dar Sidhi urf Tukke pe Tukka.'' He was a designer and associate show director for the

2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event, in New Delhi, India. It began at 7:00 PM (IST) on 3 October 2010 ending at 10:00 PM (IST) displaying India's varied cul ...

and also the art director for the 1986 and 1987

Khajuraho Khajuraho () is a city, near Chhatarpur in Chhatarpur district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the country's largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous f ...

Festival.

Early life

Bansi Kaul was born on 23 August 1949 into a

Kashmiri Pandit The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region ...

family in

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. He was interested in art and painting from an early age. He was exposed to

amateur theater Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

groups in Kashmir. He moved to

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

to join the

National School of Drama National School of Drama (NSD) is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India. 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 indepe ...

(NSD), but, did not qualify for the first time, before successfully retrying. He graduated from the institute with a specialization in

stagecraft Stagecraft is a technical aspect of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes constructing and rigging scenery; hanging and focusing of lighting; design and procurement of costumes; make-up; stage management; audio engineering; and p ...

in 1973.

Career

Kaul started his career as a director with

's NSD Repertory Company and was also a member of the faculty of the school's department of extension, before forming his own theatre group in 1984. In 1986, he founded ''Rang Vidushak'', a theater group based in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

, that incorporated folk idioms into its production and evolved a new idiom of clown-theatre. The group performed in India and abroad in several languages such as Hindi, Punjabi,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

and

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

. Kaul directed and produced over 100 plays through his career, with some of his notable plays included ''Aala Afsar'' based on

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

's satirical play

The Government Inspector ''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pla ...

, ''Kahan Kabir'' based on the collected works of poet-saint

Kabir Kabir Das (1398–1518) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Garib Das, ...

'','' and ''Sidhi Dar Sidhi urf Tukke pe Tukka'' an adaptation of Chinese folktale "Three promotions in succession"''.'' Most of his plays were based on the

Nautanki Nautanki is one of the most popular folk performance forms of South Asia, particularly in northern India. Before the advent of Bollywood (the Hindi film industry), Nautanki was the biggest entertainment medium in the villages and towns of north ...

style of street theater. Other works included ''Mrichakatikam, Raja Agnivarna ka Pair, Agnileek, Veini Samhaar, Dashkumar Charitham, Sharvilk, Pancharathram, Andha Yug, Khel Guru Ka, Jo Ram Rachi Raakha, Aranyadhipathi Tantyamaama, Zindagi aur Zyonk, Vatan ka Raag, and Saudagar''. In a review of a retrospective of his works ''Rang-Bansi'' (), newspaper ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote, "As a designer, he (Kaul) treads two worlds – the designer of mega events with plenty of resources and the designer of the theatrical productions suffering from utter paucity of funds." Through his works, he explored the politics of laughter and studied riddles and myths across Indian traditional folk tales, including clowns, or ''Vidushak'', into the central figure of his works. His last production ''Paglaye Gusse Ka Dhuan'' in 2019 was for the

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

based Bhartendu Natya Akademi. The play was based on the works of

Kashmiri poets Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah, ...

and addressed the topic of

Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits The Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, is their early-1990 forced * * * * * * * * * migration, or flight, from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in Indian-administered Kashmir following rising violence in an insurgency. Of a total Pan ...

during years of militancy in the state. Building on his training in stagecraft, he worked as the art director for the 1986 and 1987

Festival and also for the

Festival of India Festival of Chariots refers to the Ratha Yatra festivals run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousnesss (ISKCON). The main event is a chariot procession through the streets. The procession may then be followed by performing arts pres ...

in China, Switzerland, and the USSR. Kaul was one of the lead designers and an associate show director for the

. Speaking about his mandate, he would say that the requirement was to bring Indian culture and themes to the event, without letting

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

come across as the "only cultural identity of the country". He was awarded the 1995

and the

, India's fourth highest civilian honor in 2014. He was also the recipient of the 2016 Rashtriya Kalidas Samman for ''Kahan Kabir''. He received the 1994 Shikhar Samman from the

Government of Madhya Pradesh Government of Madhya Pradesh also known as the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, or locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and its 52 districts. It consists of an executive, ...

, and the 1995

Safdar Hashmi Safdar Hashmi (12 April 1954 – 2 January 1989) was a communist playwright and director, best known for his work with street theatre in India. He was also an actor, lyricist, and theorist, and he is still considered an important voice in Indian ...

Award from the Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Personal life

Kaul was married to theater artist Anjana Puri. Puri was a Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee herself and composed music for many of his productions. Kaul died from cancer on 6 February 2021, in Delhi. He was 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaul, Bansi 1949 births 2021 deaths Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Kashmiri people Indian male dramatists and playwrights National School of Drama alumni National School of Drama faculty Indian theatre directors Hindi theatre Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts People from Srinagar Dramatists and playwrights from Jammu and Kashmir 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Indian male writers