Theatre stalwart Badal Sircar passes away at 85 in Kolkata

Legendary Bengali playwright, actor and director Badal Sircar, who gave Indian theatre a boost with plays like Pagla Ghoda and Ebang Indrajit, died at his north Kolkata residence on Friday evening. He was 85 and had been suffering from prostrate cancer. 

His work ideology was a source of inspiration for many young theatre personalities in Gujarat. He first conducted a theatre workshop in Ahmedabad in 1981 and came back to Gujarat after that.

When DNA spoke to a few participants who had been part of the workshops about how they were still connected to the kind of theatre Sircar had introduced, Paresh Naik, a film and play director, said that his concept of 'third theatre' had inspired him.

Echoing his views are Manvita Baradi and Hasmukh Baradi, city-based theatre personalities and Janak Rawal, director of plays. They also affirm being influenced by Sircar's third theatre. Third theatre is not performed on the stage and is an innovative form of street theatre where the barriers of stage and walls are broken and the play is enacted in an open space to involve people and interact with them more freely.

Naik said, “Sircar was actively involved in theatre and focussed more on using the body and voice instead of costumes, props and make-up. He was a genius at work; but in his later years, he dissociated himself from meeting people and theatre as well. The probable reason behind his slow but gradual decline is that the kind of theatre he propagated was slowly dying.” Naik further added that the Bengali stalwart was an international figure and he never compromised with his work.

Rawal feels Sircar introduced a big movement in Gujarat by inventing new ways of theatre.

“Sircar emphasised it was necessary for an actor to know and understand his body. His workshops taught us about our body and society by playing simple psychological games,” says Rawal.

Hasmukh Baradi said that such was Sircar's impact on people that any one who attended his workshops could never give up the medium. Many young theatre enthusiasts who took part in workshops during the 70s and 80s not only learnt acting but also learnt to write, direct and love this art.

Manvita, who considered Sircar as her guru, claims it is a personal loss for her.

She adds, “Sircar was awarded a Padma Shri in 1972 and offered a Padma Bhushan in 2010, which he declined. He was noted for taking theatre out of the proscenium. The street, public spaces and parks were his stage, away from the closed space of a stage. He broke down the walls that existed in theatre and involved audience with actors.”