Habib Tanvir evening

We, at SAHMAT, celebrated Habib Tanvir last evening. This is the centenary year of Habib Saheb (1923-2009). On September 1st this year he would be 100. Habib saheb was the founding trustee of Sahmat. He not only stood with us all these years but also actively guided Sahmat till the last day of his life. He left us on 9th June 2009. Many of his plays were performed by his company ‘Naya Theatre’ at various events organised by Sahmat. A renowned and popular playwright, director, actor, and poet, Habib saheb also wrote lyrics for many songs and even sang in some of his performances. A pioneer of many new styles and ethos in Hindi and Urdu theatre, he worked with tribal groups from Chhattisgarh. Known for his deft handling of complex social issues and a large cast, which ran between 20 to 30 characters, he put up some noteworthy musical-like dramas with an orchestra of over 70 performers. Two of his most popular plays are Charandas Chor and Agra Bazar. He also translated, adapted, and dramatised a hundred plus plays. Honoured with Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Kalidas Sammaan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award besides others he was also a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1972 to 1978. Together with Habib Tanvir we celebrated an illustrious poet of India Nazeer Akbarabadi (1735-1830) with equal fervour. Nazeer’s poetry was integral to Habib saheb’s plays. I feel both lucky and privileged that I not only had the opportunity to see Habib saheb’s plays in his life-time (while he smoked a pipe and intensely scrutinised every actor) but I also spent time with him on many occasions.

At the Jawahar Bhawan last evening, Moloyashree Hashmi initiated the event with a tribute to Habib saheb followed by songs from his play Moteram ka Satyagrah rendered by Kajal Ghosh and others.The inimitable Subhash Tyagi performed excerpts from Moteram ka Satyagrah. The best part of the evening was the high-octane high energy performance of poetic masterpieces of Nazeer Akabarabadi. The Nazeer Kahtha Kirtan was performed by Khel Tamasha Group directed by Rajneesh Bisht. The group performed and sang रोटियाँ , होली की बहारें, बंजारा-नामा, आदमी-नामा, मुफ़्लिसी to excellent music composition. Those in the audience wanted more and complained that the performance should have continued. I trudged back home mumbling a couplet of Nazeer Akbarabadi.