Theatre of India is one of the most ancient forms of theatre and it features a detailed textual, sculptural, and dramatic effects which emerged in mid
first millennium BC
The 1st millennium BC, also known as the last millennium BC, was the period of time lasting from the years 1000 BC to 1 BC ( 10th to 1st centuries BC; in astronomy: JD – ). It encompasses the Iron Age in the Old World and sees the transiti ...
.
Like in the areas of
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
and
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
, the Indian theatre is also defined by the dramatic
performance
A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Management science
In the work place ...
based on the concept of ''
Nritya
Nritya (), also referred to as Nritta, Nritta, Natana or Natya, refers to "dance, act on the stage, act, gesticulate, play" in the Indian traditions.[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 ...]
word for drama but encompasses dramatic narrative, virtuosic dance, and music.
Historically, Indian theatre has exerted influence beyond its borders, reaching ancient China and other countries in the Far East.
With the
Islamic conquests
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He estab ...
that began in the 10th and 11th centuries, theatre was discouraged or forbidden entirely.
[Brandon (1997, 72) and Richmond (1998, 516).] Later, in an attempt to re-assert indigenous values and ideas, village theatre was encouraged across the subcontinent, developing in a large number of regional languages from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Modern Indian theatre developed during the
period of colonial rule under the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th.
From the last half of the 19th century, theatres in India experienced a boost in numbers and practice. After
Indian independence in 1947, theatres spread throughout
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
as one of the means of entertainment. As a diverse, multi-cultural nation, the theatre of India cannot be reduced to a single, homogenous
trend
A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse (psychology), impulse for a short period.
Fads are objects or behavior ...
.
In contemporary India, the major competition with its theatre is that represented by growing
television industries
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
and the spread of films produced in the
Indian film industry
The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...
based in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
(formerly Bombay), known as "
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 ...
". Lack of finance is another major obstacle.
History of Indian theatre
Sanskrit theatre
History of the origin of Theatre in India is severely disputed.
Early dating
According to some scholars, Indian theatre emerged in the 15th century BC. Vedic text such as
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
provides evidence of drama plays being enacted during
Yagya
Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...
ceremonies. The dialogues mentioned in the texts range from one person monologues to three person dialogues such as the dialogue between Indra, Indrani and Vrishakapi. The dialogues are not only religious in their context but also secular for instance one rigvedic monologue is about a gambler whose life is ruined because of it and has estranged his wife caves dating back to the 3rd century BC and
Khandagiri caves from the 2nd century BC are the earliest examples of theatre architecture in India.
Dating of
Bhasa is controversial, it ranges from pre
Natyashastra
The ''Nāṭya Śāstra'' (, ''Nāṭyaśāstra'') is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts. The text is attributed to sage Bharata Muni, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates var ...
date of the 5th century BC
to the 2nd century AD, Bhasa according to some scholars preceded Natyashastra tradition.
Nandikeshvara
Nandikeshvara ( sa, नन्दिकेश्वर) (5th century-4th century BC) was a major theatrologist of ancient India. He was the author of the .
Influence on Bharata
Nandikeshvara seems to have preceded Bharata, according to Rama ...
who wrote ''Abhinaya Darpana''
lit. The Mirror of Gesture''
' which itself was based on the abridgement of a long treatise of 400 sholakas called Bharatarnava, according to some scholars seems to have preceded Bharata. The most concrete example of Nandikeshvara's teachings have survived thanks to
Bhasa.
Natyashastra, dated earliest to 200 BC, although mentions various teachers and call them acharya but doesn't name them, but it still ends with a reference to a lost treatise of dramatist Kohala.
Late dating
According to scholars who insist on late dating, Sanskrit theatre emerged in the 2nd century BCE and flourished between the 1st century CE and the 10th, which was a period of relative peace in the
history of India
According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...
during which hundreds of plays were written. Despite its name, Sanskrit theatre was not exclusively in
Sanskrit language
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 lat ...
. Other Indic languages collectively called as
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
were also used in addition to Sanskrit.
[Richmond, Swann, and Zarrilli (1993, 21).]
The earliest-surviving fragments of
Sanskrit drama
The term Indian classical drama refers to the tradition of dramatic literature and performance in ancient India. The roots of drama in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to the Rigveda (1200-1500 BCE), which contains a number of hymns in ...
date from the 1st century CE. The wealth of archeological evidence from earlier periods offers no indication of the existence of a tradition of theatre.
[Richmond (1998, 516).] The ''
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
'' (the earliest Indian literature, from between 1500 and 600 BCE) contain no hint of it; although a small number of hymns are composed in a form of
dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
), the
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...
s of the
Vedic period
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betw ...
do not appear to have developed into theatre.
The ''
Mahābhāṣya
''Mahabhashya'' ( sa, महाभाष्य, IAST: '','' , "great commentary"), attributed to Patañjali, is a commentary on selected rules of Sanskrit grammar from Pāṇini's treatise, the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'', as well as Kātyāyana's ''V ...
'' by
Patañjali
Patanjali ( sa, पतञ्जलि, Patañjali), also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra, was a Hinduism, Hindu author, mystic and philosopher. Very little is known about him, and while no one knows exactly when he lived; from analysis of his ...
contains the earliest reference to what may have been the seeds of Sanskrit drama.
[Richmond (1998, 517).] This treatise on
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
from 140 BCE provides a feasible date for the beginnings of
theatre in India
Theatre of India is one of the most ancient forms of theatre and it features a detailed textual, sculptural, and dramatic effects which emerged in mid 1st millennium BC, first millennium BC. Like in the areas of music and dance, the Indian the ...
.
However, although there are no surviving fragments of any drama prior to this date, it is possible that early Buddhist literature provides the earliest evidence for the existence of Indian theater. The
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
suttas
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
(ranging in date from the 5th to 3rd centuries BCE) refer to the existence of troupes of actors (led by a chief actor), who performed dramas on a stage. It is indicated that these dramas incorporated dance, but were listed as a distinct form of performance, alongside dancing, singing, and story recitations.
The major source of evidence for Sanskrit theatre is ''
A Treatise on Theatre'' (''Nātyaśāstra''), a compendium whose date of composition is uncertain (estimates range from 200 BCE to 200 CE) and whose authorship is attributed to
Bharata Muni
Bharata Muni (Hindi: भरत मुनि) was an ancient sage who the musical treatise '' Natya Shastra'' is traditionally attributed to. The work covers ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, especially Sanskrit theatre. Bharata is con ...
. The ''Treatise'' is the most complete work of dramaturgy in the ancient world. It addresses acting, dance, music,
dramatic construction, architecture,
costuming
Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people.
The term also was tradition ...
,
make-up
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...
,
props
A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...
, the organisation of companies, the audience, competitions, and offers a
mythological
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
account of the origin of theatre.
In doing so, it provides indications about the nature of actual theatrical practices. Sanskrit theatre was performed on sacred ground by priests who had been trained in the necessary skills (dance, music, and recitation) in a
ereditary process Its aim was both to educate and to entertain. Characters in Sanskrit plays were important. They were broadly classified into three kinds which are Nayaka(hero), Nayika(heroine) and the Vidusaka(Clown).
An appreciation for the stagecraft and classic Sanskrit drama was seen as an essential part of a sophisticated world view, by the end of the seventh century. Under the patronage of royal courts, performers belonged to professional companies that were directed by a stage manager (''sutradhara''), who may also have acted. This task was thought of as being analogous to that of a
puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...
—the literal meaning of "''sutradhara''" is "holder of the strings or threads".
The performers were trained rigorously in vocal and physical technique. There were no prohibitions against female performers; companies were all-male, all-female, and of mixed gender. Certain sentiments were considered inappropriate for men to enact, however, and were thought better suited to women. Some performers played characters their own age, while others played ages different from their own (whether younger or older). Of all the elements of theatre, the ''Treatise'' gives most attention to acting (''abhinaya''), which consists of two styles: realistic (''lokadharmi'') and conventional (''natyadharmi''), though the major focus is on the latter.
Its drama is regarded as the highest achievement of
Sanskrit literature
Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as s ...
.
[Brandon (1981, xvii).] It used
stock character
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
s, such as the hero (''nayaka''), heroine (''nayika''), or clown (''vidusaka''). Actors may have specialised in a particular type.
Kālidāsa
Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and t ...
is arguably considered to be
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
's greatest Sanskrit dramatist, writing in the ca. 4th century CE-ca. 5th century CE. Three famous romantic plays written by Kālidāsa are the ''
Mālavikāgnimitram
The ''Mālavikāgnimitram'' (Sanskrit, meaning ''Mālavikā and Agnimitra'') is a Sanskrit play by Kālidāsa. Based on some events of the reign of Pushyamitra Shunga, it is his first play.
''Mālavikāgnimitram'' tells the story of the love of A ...
'' (''Mālavikā and Agnimitra''), ''
Vikramuurvashiiya'' (''Pertaining to Vikrama and Urvashi''), and ''
Abhijñānaśākuntala
''Abhijnanashakuntalam'' (Devanagari: अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तलम्, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Abhijñānaśākuntalam''), also known as ''Shakuntala'', ''The Recognition of Shakuntala'', ...
'' (''The Recognition of Shakuntala''). The last was inspired by a story in the ''Mahabharata'' and is the most famous. It was the first to be translated into English and German. ''
Śakuntalā'' (in English translation) influenced
Goethe's
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German people, German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, politician, statesman, theatre director, and critic. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe bibliography, His works include pla ...
''
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...
'' (1808–1832).
The next great Indian dramatist was
Bhavabhuti
Bhavabhūti (Devanagari: भवभूति) was an 8th-century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered the equal of the works of Kalidasa. Bhavabhuti was born in Padmapura, Vidarbha, in Gond ...
(c. 7th century CE). He is said to have written the following three plays: ''Malati-Madhava'', ''Mahaviracharita'' and ''Uttar Ramacharita''. Among these three, the last two cover between them the entire epic of ''Ramayana''. The powerful Indian emperor
Harsha
Harshavardhana ( IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajyav ...
(606–648) is credited with having written three plays: the comedy ''
Ratnavali
''Ratnavali'' (Precious Garland) is a Sanskrit drama about a beautiful princess named Ratnavali, and a great king named Udayana. It is attributed to the Indian emperor Harsha (606–648). It is a Natika in four acts. One of the first textual r ...
'', ''
Priyadarsika'', and the
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
drama ''
Nagananda
''Nagananda'' (''Joy of the Serpents'') is a Sanskrit Play (theatre), play attributed to emperor Harsha (ruled 606 C.E. - 648 C.E.).
''Nagananda'' is among the most acclaimed Sanskrit dramas. Through five acts, it tells the popular story of Vidya ...
''.
According to some scholars the earliest form of classical theatre of India was the
Sanskrit theatre which came into existence after the development of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
theatres in the west.
[Richmond, Swann, and Zarrilli (1993, 12).] One theory describes this development as an offshoot of Alexander the Great's Indian conquest.
The invading army staged Greek-style plays and Indians picked up the performance art. While some scholars argue that traditional Indian theatre predated it, there is a recognition that classical Greek theatre has helped transformed it.
The Greek origin of Indian theatre has not received popular acceptance.
Theatre in medieval India
Mid twelfth century – eighteenth century
India's artistic identity is deeply routed within its social, economical, cultural, and religious views. For this reason it is essential to understand Indian cultural practices as they relate directly to performers and performances of this time. Performances including dance, music, and text are an expression of devotion for the Indian culture, so when looking at 'theatre' of this time a broader definition must be ascribed to the word.
Based on the understanding that performing arts are audience-oriented and must continuously adapt to the socio-cultural landscape of their patronage. Northern India managed to retain their cultural traditions in spite of the new Turko-Persian influences. The early thirteenth century marked this change for the Indian culture, where Sanskrit dramas and stage craft had been previously revered by the elites, it was now no longer relevant. This was due to the invading cultures that began to dominate and did not appreciate or understand, and since they did not understand the Sanskrit language it could no longer be held in such a high regard, and as a consequence many theatre artist suffered from neglect.
The commonplace to find performers was in urban centers, because it was there they were able to find work to support themselves. Large temples where home to musical and theatrical shows.
A Bharata Natyshatra also known as the śāstra was written to list costumes, gestures, positions of the body, and make up. It also lists plots that were weighed unsuitable and it also the most completed document. Most of Indian theatre had no scenery. There was usually a few props like a brass lamp.
When the concept of "Theatrical Art" was introduced medieval India was narrating poems.
Bhakti
''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...
poetry became popular.
During medieval India
Bhavabhuti
Bhavabhūti (Devanagari: भवभूति) was an 8th-century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered the equal of the works of Kalidasa. Bhavabhuti was born in Padmapura, Vidarbha, in Gond ...
was a famous dramatist, he had three portent plays Malati-Madhava, Magviracharita and the Uttar Ramacharita.
Theatre in India under the British
Under British colonial rule, modern Indian theatre began when a theatre was started in
Belgachia
Belgachia is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
History
The East India Company obtained from the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar, in 1717, the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their ...
. One of the earliest plays composed and staged during this period was Buro Shalikher Ghaare Roa (1860) by
Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Michael Madhusudan Dutt ((Bengali: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত); (25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature.
Early life
Dutt ...
, both in
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
. Around the same time,
Nil Darpan
Nil may refer to:
* nil (the number zero)
Acronyms
* NIL (programming language), an implementation of the Lisp programming language
* Name, Image and Likeness, a set of rules in the American National Collegiate Athletic Association allowing colle ...
(1858–59, first commercial production in 1872, by
Girish Chandra Ghosh
Girish Chandra Ghosh (28 February 1844 – 8 February 1912) was a Bengali actor, director, and writer. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre.Kundu, Pranay K. ''Development of Stage and Theatre Music in Bengal.'' Publ ...
at the national theatre in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
) a Bengali play by
Dinabandhu Mitra
Dinabandhu Mitra (1830 – 1 November 1873) was a Bengali writer and dramatist. He is notable for his play ''Nil Darpan'' (1860).
Early life
Mitra was born at Chowberia village in Gopalnagar P.S., North 24 Parganas and was the son of Kalachand ...
garnered both accolades and controversy for depicting the horror and tragedy of indigo cultivation in rural Bengal, and played a major role in the
indigo revolt
The Indigo revolt (or ''Nil bidroha''; Bengali: নীল বিদ্রোহ) was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo farmers against the indigo planters, that arose in Bengal in 1859, and continued for over a year. The villa ...
. Rabindranath Tagore was a pioneering modern playwright who wrote plays noted for their exploration and questioning of nationalism, identity, spiritualism and material greed.
[Banham (1998, 1051).] His plays are written in
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
and include ''Chitra'' (''Chitrangada'', 1892), ''The King of the Dark Chamber'' (''Raja'', 1910), ''
The Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
'' (''Dakghar'', 1913), and ''Red Oleander'' (''Raktakarabi'', 1924).
Kalyanam Raghuramaiah
Kalyanam Raghuramayya (1901–1975), popularly known as Eelapata Raghuramayya, was an Indian actor, and thespian known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Telugu theatre. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and the Padmashri, He was k ...
, a recipient of 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 ...
, and the
Padmashri
Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred ...
, was known for the roles of
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
or Dushyantha, Bhavanisankar, Narada etc. in
Telugu theatre
Telugu theatre is Indian theatre in the Telugu language, based in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Gurajada Apparao wrote the play, ''Kanyasulkam'' in 1892, which is often considered the greatest play in the Telugu language.20th Cent ...
. He performed those roles for about 60 years. He indulged in elaborate raga alapana, based on different
raga
A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...
s while rendering padyams.
One of the finest method actors, He had the ability to sing padyams and songs through whistle, by putting his finger in mouth and producing the
whistle
A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...
or flute sound (meaning Eela in Telugu). He has acted in various dramas and gave more than 20,000 stage performances.
He was called the "Nightingale of the Stage" by
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
[Article in Eenadu ]
The British believed that the Indian actors were mystical creatures. They believed they brought them luck and prosperity. The emergent modern Indian theater, which is also referred to as Native theater, features a theatrical approach that has been viewed as an intersection of Indian social space with Western theater formats and
conventions. The resulting theatrical space is described to be existing at the material, symbolic, and discursive levels. To resist its use by Indians as an instrument of protest against colonial rule, the British Government imposed the
Dramatic Performances Act in 1876.
Indian theatre after Independence (1947–1992)
Improvisation
Improvisational
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
(also known as improv or impro) is a form of theatre in which the actors use
improvisation
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
al acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Improvisers typically use audience suggestions to guide the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plot extemporaneously.
Many improvisational actors also work as scripted actors and "improv" techniques are often taught in standard acting classes. The basic skills of listening, clarity, confidence, and performing instinctively and spontaneously are considered important skills for actors to develop.
Improvisational Theatre in India is largely used for educational, interventional and entertainment purposes. The traces of Improvisational theatre in India dates back to the 1990s with the advent of
Forum theatre
Forum theatre is a type of theatre created by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal. It is one of the techniques under the umbrella term of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO). This relates to the engagement of spectators influencing and engaging with ...
with Janasanskriti under the leadership of Sanjoy Ganguly. After that in 1999, a team from the US with Bev Hoskins and Mary Good introduced
Playback theatre Playback Theatre is an original form of improvisational theatre in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot.
History
The first Playback Theatre company was founded in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and ...
to India. Thus Playback theatre and Forum theatre began to take its shape in the remotest parts of India, such as Karur, Chennai, West Bengal, as well as Bangalore too.
Yours Truly Theatre, a Bangalore-based group, developed "complete the story", an indigenous format of improvisational theatre developed under the leadership of Ranji David and Nandini Rao in 2006. In 2009, they also developed another form of improvisational theatre called "mushyara theatre".
In the late 1960s Badal Sircar introduced a new form of political theatre called the Third Theatre. Badal Sarkar's anti-establishment experimental theatre created a new genre of social enlightenment. He formed his first Third Theatre Group satabdi, in the year 1967. They used to perform Drama written by Badal Sircar in Anganmancha (theatre in the courtyard) in the Third Theatre form that break away from the tradition of One point view of the Proscenium and urged on the taking theatre to the people.
Improvisational Theatre groups in India:
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Yours Truly Theatre
Improvisational Theatre forms practiced in India:
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Playback theatre Playback Theatre is an original form of improvisational theatre in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot.
History
The first Playback Theatre company was founded in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and ...
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Theatre of the Oppressed
The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) describes theatrical forms that the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal first elaborated in the 1970s, initially in Brazil and later in Europe. Boal was influenced by the work of the educator and theoris ...
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Forum theatre
Forum theatre is a type of theatre created by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal. It is one of the techniques under the umbrella term of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO). This relates to the engagement of spectators influencing and engaging with ...
Notable theatres in India in different Indian languages and regions
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Bengali theatre
Bengali theatre primarily refers to theatre performed in the Bengali language. Bengali theatre is produced mainly in West Bengal, and in Bangladesh. The term may also refer to some Hindi theatres which are accepted by the Bengali people.
Ben ...
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Gujarati theatre
Gujarati theatre refers to theatre performed in the Gujarati language, including its dialects. Gujarati theatre is produced mainly in Gujarat and Maharashtra, in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda, Surat and else where Gujarati diaspora ex ...
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Hindi theatre
Hindi theatre is theatre performed in the Hindi language, including dialects such as Braj Bhasha, 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 ...
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Marathi theatre
Marathi theatre is theatre in the Marathi language, mostly originating or based in the state of Maharashtra in India, and elsewhere with Marathi diaspora. Starting in the middle of the 19th century, it flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, ...
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Telugu theatre
Telugu theatre is Indian theatre in the Telugu language, based in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Gurajada Apparao wrote the play, ''Kanyasulkam'' in 1892, which is often considered the greatest play in the Telugu language.20th Cent ...
Notable people
Ancient Indian playwrights
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Bhāsa
Bhāsa is one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit, predating Kalidasa. His name was already well-known by the 1st century BCE and he belongs to the late-Mauryan (322-184 BCE) period at the earliest, but the thir ...
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Bhavabhuti
Bhavabhūti (Devanagari: भवभूति) was an 8th-century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered the equal of the works of Kalidasa. Bhavabhuti was born in Padmapura, Vidarbha, in Gond ...
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Kalidasa
Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...
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Bharata Muni
Bharata Muni (Hindi: भरत मुनि) was an ancient sage who the musical treatise '' Natya Shastra'' is traditionally attributed to. The work covers ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, especially Sanskrit theatre. Bharata is con ...
Playwrights working under British rule
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Vishnudas Bhave
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Jaishankar Bhojak
Jaishankar Bhudhardas Bhojak, (30 January 1889 – 22 January 1975) better known by his theatre name Jaishankar Sundari , was an Indian actor and director of Gujarati theatre. Starting at the young age, he rose to fame for his roles of female imp ...
'Sundari'
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Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (also Chattopadhayay) CIE (26 or 27 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was an Indian novelist, poet, Essayist and journalist.Staff writer"Bankim Chandra: The First Prominent Bengali Novelist" ''The Daily Star'', 30 June 2011 ...
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Govind Ballal Deval
Govind Ballal Deval (1855–1916) was a Marathi playwright from Maharashtra, India.
Deval was born in 1855 in a village in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, but he spent his childhood in Haripur near Sangli. He attended a high school in Belgau ...
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Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Michael Madhusudan Dutt ((Bengali: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত); (25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature.
Early life
Dutt ...
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Girish Chandra Ghosh
Girish Chandra Ghosh (28 February 1844 – 8 February 1912) was a Bengali actor, director, and writer. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre.Kundu, Pranay K. ''Development of Stage and Theatre Music in Bengal.'' Publ ...
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Annasaheb Kirloskar
Balwant Pandurang Kirloskar (Devanagari: बळवंत पांडुरंग किर्लोस्कर) (31 March 1843 − 2 November 1885), popularly known as Annasaheb Kirloskar, was a Marathi playwright from Maharashtra, India.
Kirlo ...
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Bhartendu Harishchandra
Bharatendu Harishchandra (9 September 18506 January 1885) was an Indian poet, writer and playwright. He authored several dramas, life sketches and travel accounts, using new media such as reports, publications, letters to editors of publicati ...
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Dinabandhu Mitra
Dinabandhu Mitra (1830 – 1 November 1873) was a Bengali writer and dramatist. He is notable for his play ''Nil Darpan'' (1860).
Early life
Mitra was born at Chowberia village in Gopalnagar P.S., North 24 Parganas and was the son of Kalachand ...
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Jaishankar Prasad
Jaishankar Prasad (30 January 1889 15 November 1937) was a prominent figure in modern Hindi literature as well as Hindi theatre. Prasad was his pen name. He was also known as Chhayavadi poet.
Poetic
Prasad started writing poetry with the pe ...
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Dwijendralal Ray
Dwijendralal Ray (19 July 1863 – 17 May 1913), also known as D. L. Ray, was an Indian poet, playwright, and musician. He was known for his Hindu mythological and nationalist historical plays and songs known as ''Dwijendrageeti'' or the ''So ...
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Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
Post-Independence theatre-makers
Notable theatre directors:
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Ebrahim Alkazi
Ebrahim Alkazi (18 October 1925 – 4 August 2020) was an Indian theatre director and drama teacher. A rigid disciplinarian, he instilled in his acting students an awe and reverence that they still carry with them, with several of them havin ...
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K.V. Akshara
K.V. Akshara is a director, playwright and writer in the Kannada language. He is the son of the writer K.V. Subbanna. He is a prominent figure in contemporary Kannada language, Kannada theatre.
Akshara presently heads Ninasam, the theatre group ...
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Nadira Babbar
Nadira Babbar (born 20 January 1948) is an Indian theatre actress, director and an actress in Hindi cinema, who is the recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2001. Nadira founded a Mumbai-based theatre group called Ekjute, a known name in H ...
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Ram Gopal Bajaj
Ram Gopal Bajaj is an Indian theatre director, academician, and a Hindi film actor. He has also been a faculty member and a former Director of National School of Drama, New Delhi (1995 – September 2001).
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2003 a ...
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Ajitesh Bandopadhyay
Ajitesh Bandopadhyay ( bn, অজিতেশ বন্দোপাধ্যায়; born: 30 September 1933 ― 13 October 1983) was an actor, playwright, activist and director. He along with Shambhu Mitra and Utpal Dutt are considered to be ...
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Sisir Bhaduri
Shishir Kumar Bhaduri or Sisir Kumar Bhaduri (2 October 1889 – 30 June 1959) was an Indian stage actor and theatre founder, who commonly referred to as the pioneer of modern Bengali theatre, where he was an actor, director, playwright and eve ...
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Suresh Bhardwaj
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Bijon Bhattacharya
Bijon Bhattacharya ( bn, বিজন ভট্টাচার্য; 17 July 1906 – 19 January 1978) was an Indian theatre and film actor from West Bengal. He was an eminent playwright and dramatist.
Bhattacharya was born in 1906 at Farid ...
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Raj Bisaria
Raj Bisaria (born 10 November 1935) is an Indian director, producer, actor and educationalist, described by the Press Trust of India as "the father of the modern theatre in North India". He founded Theatre Arts Workshop in 1966, and Bhartendu A ...
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Manish Joshi Bismil
Manish Joshi Bismil is an Indian theatre actor, director, puppeteer and magician. He completed a one-year diploma course at the Himachal Cultural Research Forum and Theatre Academy. He has directed more than 35 full-length play including Aadhe Adh ...
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Bibhash Chakraborty
Bibhash Chakraborty (alternatively spelt Bibhas Chakraborty; born 23 September 1937) is an Indian Bengali actor and theatre personality. He is also a social activist. He is a prolific writer too. He was associated with Paschim Banga Natya Akademi ...
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Chandradasan
Chandradasan (born December 1958) is an Indian theatre Artistic director, director, actor, writer, and translator from Kerala, India.
Early life and education
Chandradasan worked with rural theatre groups like Gramavedi Vallarpadam, Bhasabheri Th ...
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Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...
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Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry
Dr. Neelam Man Singh Chowdhry (born 14 April 1951) is a Chandigarh-based theatre artist who has worked around the world. She was awarded the 2003 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in the Theatre Direction category. She was the recipient of the 2011 Pa ...
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Satyadev Dubey
Satyadev Dubey (13 July 1936 – 25 December 2011) was an Indian theatre director, actor, playwright, screenwriter & film director. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1971.
He won the 1978 National Film Award for Best Scree ...
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Utpal Dutta
Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) 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 The ...
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Arvind Gaur
Arvind Gaur is an Indian theatre director known for innovative, socially and politically relevant plays in India. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social political ...
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Sachin Gupta
Sachin Gupta (born 9 March 1978) is an Indian film producer, writer and director. He produces films under Chilsag Motion Pictures and is also an artistic director of Chilsag Chillies Theatre Company. He made his writing and directorial debut w ...
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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 ...
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Rohini Hattangadi
Rohini Hattangadi (''née'' Oak; born 11 April 1955) is an Indian actress, known for her work in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, and Gujarati films, and Marathi soap operas and theatre. She has won two Filmfare Awards, one National Film ...
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Shafi Inamdar
Shafi Inamdar (23 October 1945 – 13 March 1996) was an Indian actor. He started his film career with the film '' Vijeta'' and continued it in ''Ardh Satya''. He acted in a number of television serials including ''Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi''. His mo ...
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Nemi Chandra Jain
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Shyamanand Jalan
Shyamanand Jalan (13 January 1934 – 24 May 2010) was a Kolkata-based Indian theatre director, and actor. He is credited for the renaissance period of modern Indian theatre and especially the Hindi theatre in Kolkata from the 1960s to 1980s. H ...
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Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...
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Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor (pronounced əʃi kəpuːɾ (born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his work in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four Nation ...
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B.V. Karanth
Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth (Kannada: ಬಾಬುಕೋಡಿ ವೆಂಕಟರಮಣ ಕಾರಂತ) (19 September 1929 – 1 September 2002) widely known as B. V. Karanth was an Indian film director, playwright, actor, screenwriter, co ...
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Bansi Kaul
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, India's fourth highest civilian honor, in 2014, and the Sangeet Nat ...
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Kader Khan
Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film director. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his debut film in the 1973 film '' Daag'', starring Rajesh Khanna, in which he ...
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Mohan Maharishi
Mohan Maharishi is an Indian theatre director, actor and a playwright. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 'Direction' in 1992.
Early life
Mohan Maharishi graduated from National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1965, and later serv ...
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Ramesh Mehta
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Shaoli Mitra
Shaoli Mitra শাঁওলি মিত্র); 1948 – 16 January 2022) was an Indian Bengali theatre and film actress, director, and playwright. She played the role of ''Bangabala'' in Ritwik Ghatak's ''Jukti Takko Aar Gappo''. She is ...
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Sombhu Mitra
Sombhu Mitra (22 August 1915 – 19 May 1997) was an Indian film and stage actor, director, playwright, reciter and an Indian theatre personality, known especially for his involvement in Bengali theatre, where he is considered a pioneer. H ...
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Shankar Nag
Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...
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Balraj Pandit
Balraj Pandit was a well-known Hindi and Punjabi playwright besides being a theatre director, poet, painter and a popular teacher. His ''Paanchwan Sawaar'' (पांचवा सवार) is considered a classic and a significant play of Indi ...
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Kavalam Narayana Panicker
Kavalam Narayana Panicker (1 May 1928 – 26 June 2016) was an Indian dramatist, theatre director, and poet. He has written over 26 Malayalam plays, many adapted from classical Sanskrit drama and Shakespeare, notably Kalidasa's ''Vikramorvasiy ...
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Mrityunjay Prabhakar
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Prasanna
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Rathna Shekar Reddy
Rathna Shekar Reddy is an Indian actor. He is the co-founder of the prominent Hyderabad-based theatre group Samahaara, along with writer-director Anjali Parvati Koda. He starred in the National Award-winning Telugu film, ''Na Bangaaru Talli.'' ...
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Rudraprasad Sengupta
Rudraprasad Sengupta (born 31 January 1935) is a Bengali Indian actor, director and cultural critic.
Biography
Sengupta was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal, the son of Anant Sengupta and Usha Prabha Sengupta. He studied at the Scottish ...
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B.M. Shah
Brij Mohan Shah (1933–1998), better known as B M Shah, was an Indian theatre director and playwright. Shah along with Mohan Upreti, are together credited for the revival of the theatre in the Uttarakhand. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akade ...
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Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare A ...
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Gursharan Singh
Gursharan Singh (born 8 March 1963) is a former Indian cricketer who played in one Test and one One Day International in 1990.
While appearing as a substitute for Roger Binny in the Third Test against West Indies in 1983 at Ahmedabad, he b ...
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Badal Sircar
Sudhindra Sircar (Born 15 July 1925), also known as Badal Sarkar, was an influential Indian dramatist and theatre director, most known for his anti-establishment plays during the Naxalite movement in the 1970s and taking theatre out of the pro ...
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Deepan Sivaraman
Deepan Sivaraman is an Indian theatre director, scenographer and academic. He is the founder oOxygen Theatre Companybased in Delhi. He is from Thrissur, Kerala.
Sivaraman received Charles Wallace India Trust Award in 2003, ''Kerala Sangeeth ...
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Anjan Srivastav
Aanjjan Srivastav (born 2 June 1948) is an Indian film, television and stage actor, associated with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) in Mumbai of which he remained Vice-President for several years. Outside theatre, he is best known as ...
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K.V. Subbanna
Kuntagodu Vibhuthi Subbanna (20 February 1932 – 16 July 2005) was an acclaimed dramatist and writer in Kannada. He was the founder of the world-famous Ninasam, ''NINASAM'' (''Neelanakantheshwara Natya Sangha'') drama institute.History of ...
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Habib Tanvir
Habib Tanvir (1 September 1923 – 8 June 2009) was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He was the writer of plays such as, ''Agra Bazar'' (1954) and ''Charandas Chor'' (1975). A pio ...
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 ...
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Ratan Thiyam
Ratan Thiyam (born 20 January 1948) is an Indian playwright and theatre director, and the winner of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, one of leading figures of the "''theatre of roots''" movement in Indian theatre, which started in the 1970s ...
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Kumara Varma
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Sankar Venkateswaran
Sankar Venkateswaran (born 1979) is an Indian theatre director.
Education
Venkateswaran graduated with a first rank in theatre direction from Calicut University School of Drama & Fine Arts, Thrissur in 2002, after which he trained at Theatr ...
Notable playwrights
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Gurazada Apparao
Gurajada Venkata Apparao (21 September 1862 – 30 November 1915) was an Indian playwright, dramatist, poet, and writer known for his works in Telugu theatre. Rao wrote the play '' Kanyasulkam'' in 1892, which is considered as the greatest play ...
(Telugu)
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Abhimanyu
Abhimanyu is a legendary warrior from the ancient Hindu history ''Mahabharata''. He was born to the third Pandava prince Arjuna and the Yadu princess Subhadra, who was Krishna's younger sister. The ''Sambhava Parva'' of the Adi Parva sta ...
(Malayalam)
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Satish Alekar
Satish Vasant Alekar (born 30 January 1949) is a Marathi playwright, actor, and theatre director. A founder member of the Theatre Academy of Pune, and most known for his plays ''Mahanirvan'' (1974), ''Mahapoor'' (1975), ''Atirekee'' (1990), ''Pi ...
(Marathi)
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Rambriksh Benipuri
Ramavriksha Benipuri (, 23 December 1899 – 9 September 1968) was a freedom fighter, Socialist Leader editor and Hindi writer. He was born in a small village named Benipur in Muzaffarpur district in a Bhumihar Brahmin family in the Indian stat ...
(Hindi)
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Datta Bhagat
Datta Ganpat Bhagat (born 13 June 1945 in Waghi village of Nanded district, Maharashtra) is an Indian Marathi playwright, Ambedkarite thinker and one of the leaders of the Dalit theater movement in Marathi. He is a professor of Marathi at the D ...
(Marathi)
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Dharamvir Bharati
Dharamvir Bharati (25 December 1926 – 4 September 1997) was a renowned Hindi poet, author, playwright and a social thinker of India. He was the chief editor of the popular Hindi weekly magazine '' Dharmayug'', from 1960 till 1987.The Illustr ...
(Hindi)
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Bijon Bhattacharya
Bijon Bhattacharya ( bn, বিজন ভট্টাচার্য; 17 July 1906 – 19 January 1978) was an Indian theatre and film actor from West Bengal. He was an eminent playwright and dramatist.
Bhattacharya was born in 1906 at Farid ...
(Bangla)
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Anupama Chandrasekhar
Anupama Chandrasekhar is an Indian playwright born and based in Chennai. She is best known for her play ''The Father and the Assassin'', which earned her a nomination for the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Best Play and was a finalist for ...
(English)
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Mohit Chattopadhyay
Mohit Chattopadhyaya (also spelled Mohit Chattopadhyay) (1 June 1934 – 12 April 2012) was a Bengali Indian playwright, screenwriter, dramatist and poet. He was a leading figure in modern Indian drama. Mohit Chottopadhya died on 12 April 2012. ...
(Bangla)
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Asif Currimbhoy
Asif Currimbhoy (1928–1994) is an Indian playwright who wrote in English. He was among the very few Indian dramatists writing plays exclusively in English. He wrote and/or produced over thirty plays in several genres. His work incorporated mo ...
(English)
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Gurcharan Das
Gurcharan Das (born 3 October 1943) is an Indian author, who wrote a trilogy based on the classical Indian goals of the ideal life.
''India Unbound'' was the first volume (2002), on artha, 'material well-being', which narrated the story of I ...
(English)
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Mahesh Dattani
Mahesh Dattani (born 7 August 1958) is an Indian director, actor, playwright and writer. He wrote such plays as ''Final Solutions'', ''Dance Like a Man'', ''Bravely Fought the Queen'', ''On a Muggy Night in Mumbai'', ''Tara'', ''Thirty Days in S ...
(English)
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Swadesh Deepak
Swadesh Deepak (born 1943) is an Indian playwright, novelist and short-story writer. Deepak has been active on the Hindi literary scene since the mid-1960s and is best known for ''Court Martial,'' a 1991 play. Deepak's most recent book is ''Maine ...
(Hindi)
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Govind Purushottam Deshpande
Govind Purushottam Deshpande (Devanagari: गोविंद पुरुषोत्तम देशपांडे; 1938 – 16 October 2013) was a Marathi playwright and academic from Maharashtra, India.
Biography Education and career
B ...
(Marathi)
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Utpal Datta (Bangla)
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Utpal Dutt
Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) 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 The ...
(Bangla)
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Mahesh Elkunchwar
Mahesh Elkunchwar (born 9 October 1939) is an Indian playwright and screenplay writer in Marathi language with more than 20 plays to his name, in addition to his theoretical writings, critical works, and his active work in India's ''Parallel Cin ...
(Marathi)
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Sachin Gupta
Sachin Gupta (born 9 March 1978) is an Indian film producer, writer and director. He produces films under Chilsag Motion Pictures and is also an artistic director of Chilsag Chillies Theatre Company. He made his writing and directorial debut w ...
(Hindi)
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Hasan Imam
Syed Hasan Imam (born 27 July 1935) is an actor, film director, television director and cultural personality in Bangladesh. He earned Ekushey Padak (1999), Independence Day Award (2016) and Bangladesh National Film Award for Lifetime Achievement ( ...
(Hindi)
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Rajesh Joshi (Hindi)
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Sharad Joshi
Sharad Joshi was an Indian poet, writer, satirist and a dialogue and scriptwriter in Hindi films and television. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990.
Biography
Early life and education
Sharad Joshi was born on 21 May 1931 in Ujjain, Madhya ...
(Hindi)
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T. P. Kailasam
Tyagraj Paramasiva Iyer Kailasam (Kannada: ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜ ಪರಮಶಿವ ಐಯ್ಯರ್ ಕೈಲಾಸಂ, 1884–1946), was an Indian playwright and prominent writer in the Kannada literature. Literary criticism in Kannada l ...
(Kannada, English)
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Sriranga (Kannada)
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Samsa (Kannada)
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Chandrashekhara Kambara
Chandrashekhara Kambara ( kn, ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಕಂಬಾರ; born 2 January 1937) is a prominent Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hamp ...
(Kannada)
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Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...
(Hindi), (Urdu), (Pashto), (Bangla)
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Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the ...
(Kannada)
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Kader Khan
Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film director. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his debut film in the 1973 film '' Daag'', starring Rajesh Khanna, in which he ...
(Urdu)
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Tulsi Lahiri
Tulsi Lahiri (7 April 1897 – 22 June 1959) was a Bengali actor, director and play writer.
Early life
Lahiri was born in 1897 in a zamindar family of Naldanga village, Rangpur of British India. He passed B.A and B.L and started his lawyer caree ...
(Bangla)
*
Sajitha Madathil
Sajitha Madathil is an Indian film and theatre actor. Her performance in Joy Mathew's feature film '' Shutter'' (2012) won her the State film award for second best actress.
She is the head of the department of Acting at the K. R. Narayanan Na ...
(Malayalam)
*
Ramesh Mehta (Urdu)
*
Piyush Mishra
Piyush Mishra (born as Priyakant Sharma; 13 January 1963) is an Indian actor, lyricist, playwright, musician and screenwriter.
Mishra grew up in Gwalior, and graduated from National School of Drama, Delhi in 1986. Thereafter, he started his ca ...
(Hindi)
*
Manoj Mitra
Manoj Mitra (born 22 December 1938) is an Indian theatre, film and television actor, director and playwright.
Early life
Mitra was born on 22 December 1938 in Dhulihar village of Satkhira, Khulna, Bangladesh. Initially he used to study at home ...
(Bengali)
*
Torit Mitra
Torit Mitra (born 4 September 1956) is a noted Indian Bengali playwright and theatre director. He co-founded avant-garde theatre company, Sansaptak in 1992 . He has written 80 plays, all staged by Sansaptak. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine ...
(Bengali)
*
Narendra Mohan
Narendra Mohan (10 October 1934 – 20 September 2002) was an Indian industrialist, chairman and managing director of the Jagran Prakashan, the publisher of an Indian newspaper published in Hindi, '' Dainik Jagran'' (Hindi: सबसे ब ...
(Hindi)
*
Arun Mukherjee
Arun Mukherjee or Arun Mukhopadhyay is a Bengali actor who started his career in films with ''Kshudhita Pashan'' in 1960 followed by his performance in Satyajit Ray's 1962 film ''Kanchenjunga''. Other films he was in include ''Ekdin Pratidin'', ''S ...
(Bangla)
*
Manjula Padmanabhan
Manjula Padmanabhan (born 23 June 1953) is an Indian playwright, journalist, comic strip artist, and children's book author. Her works explore science, technology, gender, and international inequalities.
Life
Padmanabhan was born in Delhi in ...
(English)
*
Samkutty Pattomkary (Malayalam)
*
Vayala Vasudevan Pillai
Vayala Vasudevan Pillai (22 April 1945 – 29 August 2011) was a Malayalam-language playwright from Kerala, India. He was the disciple of eminent playwright G. Sankara Pillai. He directed over 40 plays. Some of his popular plays include ''Viswada ...
( Malayalam)
*
Mohan Rakesh
Mohan may refer to:
People
* Mohan Shumsher JBR, Former prime minister of Nepal
* Mohan (actor) (born 1956), Indian film actor
* Mohan (director), Indian director of Malayalam films
* Mohan (name), a name generally found among Hindus
* Mohan (cl ...
(Hindi)
*
Bhisham Sahni
Bhisham Sahni (8 August 1915 – 11 July 2003) was an Indian writer, playwright in Hindi and an actor, most famous for his novel and television screenplay '' Tamas'' ("Darkness, Ignorance"), a powerful and passionate account of the Partition of ...
(Hindi)
*
Badal Sarkar
Sudhindra Sircar (Born 15 July 1925), also known as Badal Sarkar, was an influential Indian dramatist and theatre director, most known for his anti-establishment plays during the Naxalite movement in the 1970s and taking theatre out of the pros ...
(Bengali)
*
Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena
Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena (15 September 1927 – 23 September 1983) was a Hindi writer, poet, columnist and playwright. He was one of the seven poets who
first published in one of the "Tar Saptaks", which ushered in the ‘Prayogvaad’ (Experimenta ...
(Hindi)
*
B. M. Shah (Urdu)
*
Partap Sharma
Partap Sharma (12 December 1939 – 30 November 2011) was an Indian playwright, novelist, author of books for children, commentator, actor and documentary film-maker.
Background
Sharma was born in Lahore, Punjab, India (now in Pakistan) and w ...
(English)
*
Gopal Sharman
Gopal Sharman (19 August 1935 - 16 June 2016) was the author of 14 plays, three books, writer-director of scores of television programmes, many articles and columns, and is best known for his dramatic version of the great epic, '' The Ramayana' ...
(English)
*
Javed Siddiqui
Javed Siddiqi (13 January 1942) is a Hindi and Urdu screenwriter, dialogue writer and playwright from India. He has written over 50 storylines, screenplays and dialogues.
During his career, Siddiqi has collaborated with some of India's most pr ...
(Urdu)
*
Harcharan Singh (Punjabi)
*
Hrishikesh Sulabh
Hrishikesh Sulabh (born 15 February 1955) is a Hindi writer. He is the recipient of the prestigious 2019 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. He is best known for writing short stories, and writing plays in Bideshiya Shaili. He worked with the All Indi ...
*
Rajesh Talwar
Rajesh Talwar is a lawyer and writer from India. He has written several books on the topics of law and human rights.
Early life
Talwar studied economics at Hindu College at the University of Delhi. Subsequently, he went to the University of ...
(English)
*
Habib Tanvir
Habib Tanvir (1 September 1923 – 8 June 2009) was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He was the writer of plays such as, ''Agra Bazar'' (1954) and ''Charandas Chor'' (1975). A pio ...
( Hindi/ Urdu )
*
Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar (6 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. His Marathi plays established him as ...
(Marathi)
*
Shreekumar Varma
Shreekumar Varma is an Indian author, playwright, newspaper columnist and poet, known for the novels ''Lament of Mohini'' (Penguin, 2000), ''Maria's Room'' (HarperCollins, 2010) and ''Kipling's Daughter'' (AngloInk, 2018), the children's books, ' ...
(English)
*
Surendra Verma
Surendra Verma (born 7 September 1941) is a leading Hindi litterateur and playwright. He started out as a playwright, when his play ''Surya Ki Antim Kiran Se Surya Ki Pahli Kiran Tak'' (From sunset to sunrise, 1972) became quite well known; it ...
(Hindi)
*
Asghar Wajahat
Syed Asghar Wajahat, popularly known as Asghar Wajahat ( hi, असग़र वजाहत) (born 5 July 1946), is a Hindi scholar, fiction writer, novelist, playwright, an independent documentary filmmaker and a television scriptwriter, who i ...
(Urdu)
*
Naren Weiss
Naren Weiss (born March 15, 1991) is an actor, playwright, and former model. He played Osama bin Laden in Kamal Haasan's film on terrorism '' Vishwaroopam'', Dekker in the ABC series ''Deception'', and is known for his work in theatre in Indi ...
(English)
Forms of Indian theatre
Traditional Indian theatre
Kutiyattam
Koodiyattam ( ml, കൂടിയാട്ടം; IAST: kūṭiyāṭṭaṁ; ) is a traditional performing art form in the state of Kerala, India. It is a combination of ancient Sanskrit theatre with elements of ''Koothu'', an ancient perfor ...
is the only surviving specimen of the ancient Sanskrit theatre, thought to have originated around the beginning of the
Common Era
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
, and is officially recognised by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
as a
Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and th ...
. In addition, many forms of Indian folk theatre abound.
Bhavai
Bhavai, also known as ''Vesha'' or ''Swang'', is a popular folk theatre form of western India, especially in Gujarat.
Etymology
''Bhavai'' may derive from the Sanskrit word ''Bhava'', meaning expression or emotion. It is also associated wit ...
(strolling players) is a popular folk theatre form of
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
, said to have arisen in the 14th century AD.
Bhaona
Bhaona ( as, ভাওনা) is a traditional form of entertainment, with religious messages, prevalent is Assam, India. It is a creation of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva, written in the early sixteenth century. He created the form to convey ...
and
Ankiya Nats have been practicing in
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
since the early 16th century which were created and initiated by
Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva.
Jatra has been popular in
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
and its origin is traced to the Bhakti movement in the 16th century. Another folk theatre form popular in
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
, Uttar Pradesh and
Malwa
Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...
region of
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
is
Swang, which is dialogue-oriented rather than movement-oriented and is considered to have arisen in its present form in the late 18th – early 19th centuries.
Yakshagana
Yakshagaana is a traditional theatre, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, ...
is a very popular theatre art in Karnataka and has existed under different names at least since the 16th century. It is semi-classical in nature and involves music and songs based on
carnatic music
Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...
, rich costumes, storylines based on the ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' and ''
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
.'' It also employs spoken dialogue in-between its songs that gives it a
folk art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...
flavour.
Kathakali
Kathakali ( ml, കഥകളി) is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up and costumes of the traditional male actor-dancers. It is native to the M ...
is a form of dance-drama, characteristic of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, that arose in the 17th century, developing from the temple-art plays
Krishnanattam
Krishnaattam (Malayalam: കൃഷ്ണാട്ടം, IAST: Kṛṣṇanāṭṭaṃ) is a temple art in Kerala, India. It is a dance drama and presents the story of Krishna in a series of eight plays and was created by Manaveda (1585–16 ...
and
Ramanattam
Ramanattam (Malayalam: രാമനാട്ടം, IAST: Rāmanāṭṭaṃ) is a temple art in Kerala, India. The dance drama presents the story of Rama in a series of eight plays and was created under the patronage of Veera Kerala Varma (AD 16 ...
.
File:Kondadakuli.jpg
Urdu/Hindustani Theatre
Urdu Drama evolved from the prevailing dramatic traditions of North India shaping Rahas or Raas as practiced by exponents like
Wajid Ali Shah
Mirza Wajid Ali Shah ( ur, ) (30 July 1822 – 1 September 1887) was the eleventh and last King of Awadh, holding the position for 9 years, from 13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856.
Wajid Ali Shah's first wife was Alam Ara who was better k ...
,
Nawab of Awadh
The Nawab of Awadh or the Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers who governed the state of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in north India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to a dynasty of Persian origin from Nishapu ...
. His dramatic experiments led to the famous
Inder Sabha
''Inder Sabha'' (Urdu: اِندر سبها) is an Urdu play and opera written by Agha Hasan Amanat, and first staged in 1853. It is regarded as the first complete Urdu stage play ever written. The play was translated into German in the 1880s as a d ...
of
Agha Hasan Amanat
Agha Hasan Amanat ("آغا حسن "امانت, b. 1815, d. 1858) was an Urdu poet, writer and playwright of the nineteenth century from the Indian city of Lucknow. He was affiliated with the court of Wajid Ali Shah, the princely ruler of Awadh. ...
and later this tradition took the shape of
Parsi theatre
Parsi theatre is a generic term for an influential theatre tradition, staged by Parsis, and theatre companies largely-owned by the Parsi business community, which flourished between 1850 and 1930s. Plays were primarily in the Hindustani language ( ...
.
Yahudi Ki Ladki
''Yahudi Ki Ladki'' (The Jew's Daughter) is a historical Urdu play by Agha Hashar Kashmiri, on the theme of persecution of Jews by the Romans. It was first published in 1913. The play became his best known work, and a classic in Parsi-Urdu theatr ...
(The Jew's Daughter) by
Agha Hashar Kashmiri
Agha Hashar Kashmiri (born Muhammad Shah, 3 April 1879 – 1 April 1935) was an Urdu poet, playwright and dramatist. A number of his plays were Indian Shakespearean adaptations.
Early life
He started to show interest in stage dramas and mo ...
is culmination of this tradition.
Among all the languages Urdu (which was called Hindi by early writers), along with Gujrati, Marathi and Bengali theatres have kept flourishing and demand for its writers and artists has not subsided by the drama aficionados. All the early gems of Urdu Theatre (performed by Parsi Companies) were made into films. Great works like those by Shakespeare have influenced Modern Urdu tradition to a large extent when Indian, Iranian, Turkish stories and folk was adapted for stage with heavy doses of Urdu Poetry. In modern times writers like
Imtiaz Ali Taj
Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj ( ur, ; ; 1900–1970) was an Pakistani dramatist who wrote in the Urdu language. He is remembered above all for his 1922 play ''Anarkali'', based on the life of Anarkali, that was staged hundreds of times and was adapted ...
, Rafi Peer, Krishan Chander, Manto, Upender Nath Ashk, Ghulam Rabbani, Prof. Mujeeb and many others shaped this tradition.
While Prof Hasan, Ghulam Jeelani, J.N. Kaushal, Shameem Hanfi, Jameel Shaidayi etc. belong to the old generation, contemporary writers like Mujeeb Khan,
Javed Siddiqui
Javed Siddiqi (13 January 1942) is a Hindi and Urdu screenwriter, dialogue writer and playwright from India. He has written over 50 storylines, screenplays and dialogues.
During his career, Siddiqi has collaborated with some of India's most pr ...
, Sayeed Alam, Danish Iqbal, Anis Azmi, Aftab Hasnain, Aslam Parvez, Anis Javed, Iqbal Niyazi,
Syed Sahil Agha and Zaheer Anwar are few post modern playwrights actively contributing in the field of Urdu Drama.
Zaheer Anwar has kept the flag of Urdu Theatre flying in Kolkata. Unlike the writers of previous generation, Danish iqbal and Zaheer do not write bookish Plays but their work is a product of vigorous performing tradition. Iqbal Niyazi of Mumbai has written several plays in Urdu. His play, "Aur Kitne Jalyanwala BaughU??" won National award other awards. Hence this is the only generation after Amanat and Agha Hashr who actually write for stage and not for libraries.
An upcoming group Aatrangi Pitaara Foundation is actively performing and saving Hindustani Theatre. Their presentation of Anti-National Ghalib written by Danish Iqbal has been well received by the Delhi Theatre enthusiasts. Leading the group,
Keshav Raina Keshav is an South asian male given name which is a modern form of name Keshava, one of the many names of Lord Krishna and Lord Vishnu. Notable people with the name include:
* Keshav Bansal (born 1991), Indian entrepreneur
* Keshav Vaman Bhole (18 ...
is developing more Hindustani shows showcasing the rich history and heritage of India.
Indian puppet theatre
Yakshagana
Yakshagaana is a traditional theatre, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, ...
is a popular semi-classical theatre art from coastal Karnataka. It uses rich costumes, music, dance, and dialogue. Puppet shows in parts of
Karnataka uses all these elements of
yakshagana
Yakshagaana is a traditional theatre, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, ...
to depict stories from the ''
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
'' and ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
.''
Indian street theatre
![PSI India street play](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/PSI_India_street_play.jpg)
*
Jan Natya Manch
Jana Natya Manch (People's Theatre Front; Janam for short) is a New Delhi-based amateur theatre company specialising in left-wing street theatre in Hindi. It was founded in 1973 by a group of Delhi's radical theatre amateurs who sought to take th ...
(JANAM)
Mobile theatre
Mobile theatres are a kind of popular theatre form that exist mainly in
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
. For staging their plays, theatre groups travel different places with their casts, singers, musicians, dancers and entire crew. Even the tent and chairs for the audience are carried with them. Mobile theatre was first staged on 2 October 1963 in
Pathsala
Pathsala ( Assamese: পাঠশালা) is a town that has district headquarter of Bajali district in the Indian state of Assam with a population of nearly 11.5 thousand (as per 2011 census) and an area of 2.74 square kilometre size. Well ...
, Assam.
Achyut Lahkar is known as the father of mobile theatre.
Mobile theatre in Salempur Deoria Eastern Uttar Pradesh is over 900 times played on stage within fifteen years. sanskritiksangam.com is a leading cultural organisation that has been promoting rich Indian culture through regional artists based in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Since its establishment in 2005, One of its most popular classical-Musical-Dance Drama creation Sanskritik Sangam Salempur, Meghdoot Ki Puravanchal Yatra
in Bhojpuri an adaptation of Kalidasa's Meghdootam has done a record 96 shows in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Rishikesh, Agra, Varanasi, Patna, Sonpur Mela Gorakhpur, near by areas in eastern UP among others. The creations has won many awards and recognitions for its team through leading organisations Its creations revolve around famous mythological and historical personalities and stories like, Ramayana (7 to 9 days play) 56 places, and 9 days in Surinaam,Guyana, Trinidad &Tobago iof caribbion countries Bhagwata (7 days play) two places, Kabir (32 places), Harishchandra Taramati, (32 Places), Utho Ahilya (36 places) and Sri Krishna (Three places). And also perform popular plays from Hindi literature including Kaptan Sahab (31), Court Marshall (1), Saiyyan Bhaye Kotwal (22), Muvaavaje (2), Bakari (2), Bade Bhai Saheb (63), Kafan(12), Bholaram ka jeev (17), Satgati (2), Boodhi kaaki (3), kakha ga kaa chakkar (7), Jago grahak jaago (3) etc. among other presentations based on famous literary geniuses like Munshi Premchand, Bhikaari Thakur, etc.Manvendra Tripathi as a Director of this team handling the institution .
Notable awards and festivals
Awards
*
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 ...
*
Theatre Pasta Theatre Awards
''Theatre Pasta'' is an Indian theatre magazine launched in 2005 and published by Chilsag Chillies Theatre Company, with playwright and director Sachin Gupta as its editor.
Since 2007 it has presented annually the Theatre Pasta Theatre Awards, ...
*
Kalidas Samman
The Kalidas Samman ( hi, कालिदास सम्मान) is an 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. The ...
Festivals of theatre in India
*
Prithvi Theatre
Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi Th ...
Festival (Prithvi Festival), held every year since its inception on 3 November, the birth anniversary of its legendary founder
Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...
*
Bharat Rang Mahotsav
Bharat Rang Mahotsav (BRM) (भारत रंग महोत्सव) or the National Theatre Festival, started in 1999, is the annual theatre festival organised by National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi. The festival was started to showcas ...
,
NSD
In Internet computing, NSD (for "name server daemon") is an open-source Domain Name System (DNS) server. It was developed by NLnet Labs of Amsterdam in cooperation with the RIPE NCC, from scratch as an authoritative name server (i.e., not imple ...
, New Delhi
*
Jairangam - Jaipur Theatre Festival
Jairangam- Jaipur Theatre Festival (https://www.jairangam.org/ ) is a theatre festival initiated in Jaipur, Rajasthan. It was established in 2001 by an NGO 3M Dot Bands and has now become one of the biggest theatre festivals of India.
Leading t ...
, Jaipur
*
Nandikar's National Theatre Festival
Nandikar's National Theatre Festival was started in 1984. It is arranged annually in Kolkata, India, between 16 and 25 December. Initiated and organized, as the name suggest, by the theatre group Nandikar. The festival is held at the Academy of ...
*
Purple Umbrella Theater Festival, New Delhi
Notable groups and companies
*
Aasakta Kalamanch
*
Bhoomika Theatre Group
*
Chilsag Chillies Theatre Company
Chilsag Chillies is an Indian theatre company and the flagship LiveShow, Stageplay and musical production arm of the Chilsag Entertainment Network. The company has operations in US, UK, Canada and India and has a network of talented artists all o ...
*
Dramanon
Dramanon (short for Dramatist Anonymous) is an English language theatre group that operates out of three cities in India: Manipal, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Dramanon was founded in 1991 at Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Manipal. Additiona ...
*
Indian People's Theatre Association
Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) is the oldest association of theatre-artists in India. IPTA was formed in 1943 during the British rule in India, and promoted themes related to the Indian freedom struggle. Its goal was to bring cultur ...
*
Kerala People's Arts Club
Kerala People's Arts Club (KPAC) is a theatrical movement in Kayamkulam, Kerala, India. It was formed in the 1950s by a group of individuals having close ties with Communist Party of India in Kerala. KPAC was very influential in popularising ...
*
Mandap
A mandapa or mantapa () is a pillared hall or pavilion for public rituals in Indian architecture, especially featured in Hindu temple architecture.
Mandapas are described as "open" or "closed" depending on whether they have walls. In temples, ...
*
Manch Theatre
Manch Theatre is an Indian theatre group based in Hyderabad. Manch was formed as a hobby club at Infosys in 2004. Since 2009 the group has produced and staged several acclaimed plays in English, Hindi and Telugu.http://www.thehansindia.info/News/ ...
*
Madras Players
*
Nandikar
Nandikar ( bn, নান্দীকার) is a theatre group in India. The group has its headquarters in Kolkata in the state of West Bengal, but works around the world.
History
Nandikar's story begins on 29 June 1960 at maternal uncle's house ...
*
Ninasam
Ninasam (Kannada: ನೀನಾಸಂ) is a cultural organisation located in the village of Heggodu in Sagar Taluk of the Shivamogga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Ninasam (also spelt as Neenasam) is the short form of Sri NIlakantesh ...
*
Platform for Action in Creative Theater {{Notability, date=January 2023
Platform for Action in Creative Theater (PACT) is in Indian theatrical circle involved in Theatrics, Arts, and Cultural Management. It works as a facilitating platform for potential theater actors and directors.
D ...
*
Prithvi Theatre
Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi Th ...
*
Rangayana
Rangayana ( kn, ರಂಗಾಯಣ) is a theatre institute which operates from Mysore, Karnataka, India. It works as an autonomous cultural institute. The organization consists of a professional repertory company, a theatre-training institute ...
*
Ranga Shankara
''Ranga Shankara'' is one of Bangalore's well known theatres. It is located in the south Bangalore area of J.P Nagar and is run by the Sanket Trust. The auditorium, which opened in 2004, was envisioned by Arundathi Nag, in remembrance of her la ...
*
Samahaara
Samahaara is an Indian theatre group based in Hyderabad. It was founded by two young theatre personalities, the actor-director Rathna Shekar Reddy and the playwright Anjali Parvati Koda. The group began with touring its maiden production, ''The ...
*
Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW)
*
Theatre Formation Paribartak
Theatre Formation Paribartak is a group theatre situated in the Howrah district of West Bengal, India. It produces short theatres, one-act plays and full-length plays in Bengali, English and Hindi. Its performances are held in prosceniums, intim ...
*
WeMove Theatre
''WeMove Theatre'' is Bangalore-based theatre company. It is located in the south Bangalore area of Jayanagar, Bangalore, Jayanagar and is run by the Independent Board consisting of members Abhishek Iyengar and Rangaraj Bhatracharya.
It aims ...
Notable theatres
*
Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta
The Academy of Fine Arts, in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is one of the oldest fine arts societies in India.
History
The academy was formally established in 1933 by Lady Ranu Mukherjee. It was initially located in a room loaned by the Ind ...
(Ranu Mukherjee Mancha)
*
Circle Theatre Company Circle Theatre Company is a theatre group in India. The group has its headquarters in Delhi.
Background
Established in 2003, under the leadership of Bapi Bose, one of the directors in the contemporary Indian theatre, Circle Theatre is a professi ...
(2003)
*
Girish Mancha
Girish Mancha is a theatre auditorium located in Bagbazar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The auditorium was inaugurated on 1 July 1986 by Chief Minister of West Bengal (at that time) Jyoti Basu. The auditorium was named after Girish Chandra Ghosh ...
*
Kalidasa Kalakendram
Kalidasa Kalakendram is a professional drama theatrical group founded by O. Madhavan, a well-known Malayalam theatre director, in Kollam, Kerala. The group was founded on 25 January 1963 as a society under the parent organisation, Paul Founda ...
*
Rabindra Sadan
Rabindra Sadan is a cultural centre and theatre in Kolkata, located close to the St. Paul's Cathedral on Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road in South Kolkata.
It is noted for its large stage which is a prime venue for Bengali theatre and Kolk ...
*
Star Theatre
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make ...
*
Surabhi (theatre group)
Notable practitioners who have moved from theatre to films
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Sadashiv Amrapurkar
Sadashiv Dattaray Amrapurkar (11 May 1950 – 3 November 2014) was an Indian actor, best known for his performances in Marathi language, Marathi and Hindi films from 1983 to 1999. He acted in more than 300 movies in Hindi, Marathi, and other r ...
*
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...
*
Raj Babbar
Raj Babbar (born 23 June 1952) is an Indian Hindi and Punjabi film actor and politician belonging to Indian National Congress. three-time member of the Lok Sabha and a two-time member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. He was the Pr ...
*
Manoj Bajpai
Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...
*
Tanikella Bharani
Tanikella Bharani (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, poet, playwright and director who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has worked as an actor in more than 750 films, including some in Tamil and Hindi; while he was ...
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Suresh Bhardwaj
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Seema Biswas
Seema Biswas (born 14 January 1965) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and the theatre. She gained prominence after playing the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film '' Bandit Queen'' (1994), for which she won the National Fil ...
*
Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...
*
Deepak Dobriyal
Deepak Dobriyal (born 1 September 1975) is an Indian film and theatre actor. He is recipient of a Filmfare award. He worked in many Bollywood films such as '' Omkara'' (2006), ''Shaurya'' (2008), ''Tanu Weds Manu'' (2011), ''Dabangg 2'' (2012), ...
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Utpal Dutt
Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) 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 The ...
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Neena Gupta
Neena Gupta (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian actress and television director who works in Hindi films and television. Known for her work in both art-house and commercial films, she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for pl ...
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Rajendra Gupta
Rajendra Gupta (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor and director who is known for his television roles of Adina Beg Khan Sahib e Azam in 2010 series of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Pandit Jagannath in the 1990s Doorda ...
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A. K. Hangal
Avtar Kishan Hangal (1 February 1914 – 26 August 2012) was an Indian freedom fighter from 1929 to 1947 and also stage actor from 1936 to 1965 and later became a character actor in Hindi language films from 1966 to 2005. His most notable role ...
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Shafi Inamdar
Shafi Inamdar (23 October 1945 – 13 March 1996) was an Indian actor. He started his film career with the film '' Vijeta'' and continued it in ''Ardh Satya''. He acted in a number of television serials including ''Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi''. His mo ...
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Brijendra Kala
Brijendra Kala is an Indian actor who works in Bollywood films. He is known for his subtle portrayals of characters rooted in reality. He gained attention for his small roles in mainstream cinema.
Early life
Kala spent his childhood in Mathu ...
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Pankaj Kapoor
Pankaj Kapur (born 29 May 1954) is an Indian actor who has worked in Hindi theatre, television and films. He has appeared in several television serials and films. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Filmfare Award and three Nati ...
*
Shahid Kapoor
Shahid Kapoor (; born 25 February 1981) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. Initially recognised for portraying romantic roles, he has since taken on parts in action films and thrillers, and is the recipient of several awards, inc ...
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Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...
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Raj Kapoor
Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of th ...
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Shammi Kapoor
Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards, winning in the categories of Best Actor f ...
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Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor (pronounced əʃi kəpuːɾ (born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his work in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four Nation ...
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Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the ...
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Satish Kaushik
Satish Chandra Kaushik (born 13 April 1956) is an Indian actor, director, producer, comedian and screenwriter.
Early life
Satish was born on 13 April 1956 in Mahendragarh, Haryana. He graduated from Kirori Mal College, Delhi in 1972. He is an ...
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Kader Khan
Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film director. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his debut film in the 1973 film '' Daag'', starring Rajesh Khanna, in which he ...
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Shah Rukh Khan
Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" ...
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Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Kulbhushan Kharbanda (born 21 October 1944) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi and Punjabi films. He is best known for his role as the antagonist Shakaal in '' Shaan'' (1980), Starting off with the Delhi-based theatre group 'Yatrik' in the 1 ...
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Anupam Kher
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Swanand Kirkire
Swanand Kirkire (Marathi: स्वानंद किरकिरे) (born 29 April 1972) is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, assistant director, actor and dialogue writer, both in television with Marathi and Hindi films.
Kirkire wo ...
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Sajitha Madathil
Sajitha Madathil is an Indian film and theatre actor. Her performance in Joy Mathew's feature film '' Shutter'' (2012) won her the State film award for second best actress.
She is the head of the department of Acting at the K. R. Narayanan Na ...
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Shilpi Marwaha
Shilpi Marwaha is a well known name in the Delhi Theatre Circuit, having worked as a theatre artist and activist for the past decade. She gained prominence through her activism through street theatre during the "anti corruption movement" in Delh ...
*
Piyush Mishra
Piyush Mishra (born as Priyakant Sharma; 13 January 1963) is an Indian actor, lyricist, playwright, musician and screenwriter.
Mishra grew up in Gwalior, and graduated from National School of Drama, Delhi in 1986. Thereafter, he started his ca ...
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Sohrab Modi
Sohrab Merwanji Modi (2 November 1897 – 28 January 1984) was an Indian stage and film actor, director and producer. His films include ''Khoon Ka Khoon'' (1935), a version of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', '' Sikandar'', ''Pukar'', ''Prithvi Va ...
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Ananth Nag
Dr Anant Nagarkatte (born 4 September 1948) is an Indian actor whose predominant contribution has been in Kannada cinema. He has acted in over 300 films which include over 200 Kannada films as well as Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam and Eng ...
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Shankar Nag
Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...
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Alok Nath
Alok Nath (born 10 July 1949) is an Indian film character actor known for his work in Hindi cinema and television. He made his film debut with the 1982 English (and Hindi) film ''Gandhi'', directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, which won an O ...
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Nana Patekar
Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film maker, and a former Indian Territorial Army officer, mainly working in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He is regarded as one of the finest a ...
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Om Puri
Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...
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Rajkumar
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Kangana Ranaut
Kangna Amardeep Ranaut (; born 23 March 1987) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works in Hindi films. Known for her work in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including four National Film Awards and five Filmfar ...
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Paresh Rawal
Paresh Rawal (born 30 May 1955) is an Indian actor, comedian, film producer and politician known for his works notably in Hindi films, and Telugu, and a few Gujarati and a few Tamil films. He has appeared in over 240 films and is the recipient ...
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Rathna Shekar Reddy
Rathna Shekar Reddy is an Indian actor. He is the co-founder of the prominent Hyderabad-based theatre group Samahaara, along with writer-director Anjali Parvati Koda. He starred in the National Award-winning Telugu film, ''Na Bangaaru Talli.'' ...
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Balraj Sahni
Brigadier Balraj (born Balasegaram Kandiah) was a senior commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Early life
Balraj was the fifth and youngest child of Kandiah and Kannagias. He received his primary education in Kokkuthoduwaai ...
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Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare A ...
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Ratna Pathak Shah
Ratna Pathak Shah (born 18 March 1957) is an Indian actress and director known for her work in Hindi theatre, television, and films. Her extensive work in theatre includes a series of plays in both English and Hindi. She rose to prominence when ...
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Om Shivpuri
Om Shivpuri (14 July 1938 – 15 October 1990) was an Indian theatre actor-director and character actor in Hindi films.
A National School of Drama, New Delhi alumnus, Shivpuri became the first chief of the National School of Drama Repertory Co ...
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Sudha Shivpuri
Sudha Shivpuri (14 July 1937 – 20 May 2015) was an Indian actress who was most famous for her role as Baa in the Hindi TV serial '' Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'' (2000–2008).
Early life and career
Brought up in Rajasthan, Sudha Shivpur ...
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Shilpa Shukla
Shilpa Shukla (born 22 February 1982) is an Indian film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles in the 2007 sports drama '' Chak De! India'' and the 2013 neo-noir film '' B.A. Pass'', for which she was awarded the Filmfare Critics Awar ...
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Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Nawazuddin Siddiqui (; born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Siddiqui's feature film debut was alongside director Prashant Bhargava in ''Patang'' (2012). He ga ...
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Pankaj Tripathi
Pankaj Tripathi (Birth name, né Tiwari; born 5 September 1976) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema and has also appeared in Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil language films. Tripathi has established himself as one of the n ...
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Ashish Vidyarthi
Ashish Vidyarthi (born 19 June 1962) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Odia, Marathi and Bengali films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he received t ...
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Rajpal Yadav
Rajpal Yadav (born 16 March 1971) is an Indian actor which works in Hindi, Punjabi Marathi, Telugu and one Gujarati and one Bengali and one avadhi, comedian and film maker known for his work in Indian Film industry. His breakthrough came in Ra ...
Training
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Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts
Bharatendu Academy of Dramatic Arts or Bharatendu Natya Akademi is a theatre training institute in Lucknow, India. It is named after Bharatendu Harishchandra, father of Hindi theatre. It offers a two-year full-time diploma course in theatre trai ...
*
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 ...
*
Madhya Pradesh School of Drama
The Madhya Pradesh School of Drama or MPSD, is a theatre training institute situated at Bhopal, India. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 2011 by the cabinet of Madhya Pradesh.
The d ...
References
Notes
Sources
* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Cambridge: Cambridge UP. .
* Brandon, James R. 1981. Introduction. In Baumer and Brandon (1981, xvii–xx).
* ---, ed. 1997. ''The Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre. 2nd, rev. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. .
* Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. 2003. ''History of the Theatre''. Ninth edition, International edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. .
* Baumer, Rachel Van M., and James R. Brandon, eds. 1981. ''Sanskrit Theatre in Performance.'' Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993. .
* Richmond, Farley. 1998. "India." In Banham (1998, 516–525).
* Richmond, Farley P., Darius L. Swann, and Phillip B. Zarrilli, eds. 1993. ''Indian Theatre: Traditions of Performance.'' U of Hawaii P. .
* Sharma, Shrikrishna, ed. 1996. ''Rangkarmi.'' Cultural Societies of Rajasthan. (1996, 139)
Further reading
Indian Drama in Englishby Ananda Lal, IWE Online, 13 May 2022.
*
*
*
* ''The Indian theatre'', by
Mulk Raj Bansal, Published by D. Dobson, 1950.
* ''Theatre in India'', by
Balwant Gargi
Balwant Gargi (4 December 1916 – 22 April 2003) was an Indian Punjabi language dramatist, theatre director, novelist, and short story writer, and academic.
Early life
On 4 December 1916, in Canal House in Sehna, Barnala (Punjab), Balwant Gar ...
. Published by Theatre Arts Books, 1962.
* ''A panorama of theatre in India'', by Som Benegal. Published by Popular Prakashan
orIndian Council for Cultural Relations
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India's global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people. It was founded on 9 Apri ...
(ICCR), 1968.
* Roy, Pinaki. "
Bratya Basu
Bratyabrata Basu Roy Chowdhury (born 25 September 1969),Bratya Basu(collected plays), Ananda Publishers, 2004 also known as Bratya Basu, is an Indian actor, stage director, playwright, film director, professor and a politician who is serving a ...
's ''Boma'': ''Bombing the Coloniser-supervised Chronicle''". ''Postcolonial Indian Drama in English and English Translation: Reading Themes and Techniques'' (). Eds. Sarkar, J., and U. De. New Delhi: Authors Press, 2017. pp. 287–300.
* ''Indian Theatre: Traditions of Performance'', by Farley P. Richmond, Darius L. Swann, Phillip B. Zarrilli. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1993. .
* ''Indian theatre: theatre of origin, theatre of freedom'', by Ralph Yarrow. Routledge, 2001. .
* ''The Oxford companion to Indian theatre'', by Ananda Lal. Oxford University Press, 2004. .
* ''jagrancityplus''
* ''A History of the Jana Natya Manch: Plays for the People" by Arjun Ghosh; Published by SAGE Publications India, New Delhi; 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theatre Of India
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
Indian culture
Performing arts in India
Classical theatre of india
*