Habib Tanvir’s Experiment with Folk Idioms: An Approach toward an Inclusive Theatre

Modern Indian theatre has a long and sustained tradition. It got invigorated and exposed to the western conventions of drama and performance in the post-independence scenario. It is therefore, a conglomerate of three strands: Sanskrit, folk and western dramaturgy. All these strands collide, intersect and sometimes blend with each other with a fine balance. Folk theatres and traditions of regional bhasha drama thus are key constituents of Modern theatre, which is rooted in the local cultures of common people’s belief systems and language. Folk theatre in India and modernity thus are integrated phenomena. The vitality and vigor of folk theatre for social change and awareness has been thus very essential and used equally by actors, artists, and playwrights to bring out desired change. The paper seeks to highlight HabibTanvir’s folk idioms as part of his theatre strategy for social inclusivity and political awareness. His formulations of naya theatre and his other dramatic innovations, which the paper progresses to show, have been phenomenal and anti-colonial in its approach. For this, I attempt to analyze his two well-known plays, namely, Agra Bazaar and The Living Tale of Hirma, as glaring examples of folk forms which are intended not only to subvert the colonial values but also to expose the social disparity post-independent Indian society was encountering.