In May this year, the Indian People’s Theatre Association
completed 65 years. There was a gathering of litterateurs and theatre
people celebrating the event and discussing the growth and achievements of
the unique organisation. A large part of the evening was spent in
nostalgia, listing the luminaries associated with IPTA, the great plays
staged by them reaching out to the common citizen as opposed to the
theatre going elite, and so on. There was a small note of self-criticism
as well, a brave admission of the fact that while IPTA may not have lost
its initial purpose of putting up socially relevant plays, it had perhaps
failed to keep up with the times.
Notwithstanding constant accusations of being
old-fashioned, mediocre and unable to reach out to contemporary urban
audiences, IPTA still remains the oldest and only organisation of its kind
– one that functions like a democratic community of like-minded people
rather than a personality driven group, the kind that dies down once its
leader is no longer active. IPTA has a presence in 22 states of India with
more than 12,000 members in its various units.
IPTA was set up by KA Abbas, Anil de Silva, Ali Sardar
Jafri, Dr Bhabha and Dada Sharmalkar during the Quit India movement in
1942, when a group of writers, artistes and activists felt the need to
reach out to the masses with nationalistic (the independence movement was
at its peak) and progressive ideas through drama, music and dance. IPTA
workers fanned out all over the country, performing in remote villages,
outside factories and in bastis on makeshift stages.
The association not only went on to become a significant
cultural institution, it also had a great influence on the cinema of that
period for several people associated with the group also worked in Hindi
films, including writers and poets belonging to the even older Progressive
Writers’ Association established in 1936.
The draft resolution of the IPTA conference in 1943
stated: "The immediate problems facing the people are external aggression
by the fascist hordes who are the deadliest enemies of freedom and
culture; internal repression by an alien government which seeks to hold
our people in subjection and prevent them from organising an effective
defence of their homeland; rapid disintegration of the entire economic
life of our people and particularly the havoc wrought on the morale and
the health of our people by the shortage of food and other essential
articles; and lastly the absence of sufficient unity among the people’s
forces which alone can compel the imperialist to retire, stop the economic
disintegration of the country and defeat the fascist aggressors."
Important among the early plays was Navanna (New
Harvest), about the 1943 Bengal famine, and Yeh Kiska Khoon,
Gandhi Aur Goonda, Zubeida, Basti, Danga and
Mera Gaon – all based on social problems of the time.
A member of the group for several years, Bengali composer
and poet, the late Salil Chowdhury said in an interview that IPTA had a
"tremendous impact on society, a lot of things that are available today
were made possible by the contribution IPTA made. The IPTA cultural
movement and the peasant movement were mainly responsible for the rights
that the peasants and workers enjoy today. The kinds of rights that a
peasant couldn’t enjoy even 20 years ago, they have got those rights these
days, both the peasants and the workers, thanks to such movements… If we
staged a play among the peasants, they would take care of us, provide food
and raise money for us."
For a while after independence, IPTA lost its focus but
then regrouped in various places and continued the work started by its
pioneers. Some IPTA plays that are still remembered by old-timers include
Kafan (based on the story by Munshi Premchand), Africa Jawaan
Pareshan, Lal Ghulab Ki Wapsi, Ek Chadar Maili Si,
Election Ka Ticket, Bhagat Singh, Mahanirvan, Bakri
and Sufaid Kundali.
Plays such as Shatranj Ke Mohre, Ek Aur
Dronacharya, Moteram Ka Satyagrah, Aakhri Shama,
Tajmahal Ka Tender, have lived on for years even as
newer plays like Raat, Kashmakash, Chaubees Ghante,
Sarphire and Ek Baar Phir did not find much patronage among
today’s entertainment-seeking audiences.
However, IPTA’s current general secretary, Shaili Sathyu
feels that comparisons between the old and the new are not quite fair, as
issues have changed from the forties to the present day. "What we need to
do today is not just reach out to people who agree with us anyway but to
put thoughts into the heads of people who don’t go by our democratic
beliefs… as long as there is segregation of people for any reason – caste,
religion, money or gender – theatre can be used to mobilise opinion and
make an attempt to uplift the marginalised."
Current causes like communalism, farmer suicides and loss
of idealism in today’s youth may not have found their way into IPTA plays
the way issues like corruption, political and bureaucratic ineptitude, and
rural oppression did in the past. But in Mumbai, as elsewhere, IPTA still
has a dedicated set of workers who keep the group going. Attempts are made
to reach young people through the children’s wing, IPTA Balmanch, and the
Inter-Collegiate Drama Competition, an institution in itself, which was
started in 1972 and has been held every year for the past 35 years.
Towards the end of the year IPTA will host a three-week
long All India People’s Theatre Festival to showcase talent from the
group’s units across the country. This may well be a good time to regroup,
gather strength and plunge into the deteriorating cultural scene with
ideals refreshed. A group that survives 65 years could, perhaps, aim for
immortality.
(Deepa Gahlot is a freelance journalist, critic,
author, editor and screenwriter.)