Different shades of Partition

If there is one event in the history of this country, which has managed to capture the imagination of playwrights, filmmakers and writers alike, it’s the Partition of 1947. It’s been 70 years to the event that divided the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. The largest mass migration in human history saw about 14.5 million displaced by a single event. Playwrights and theatre directors have often picked up various aspects of the tragedy to present their stage versions. We pick up some prominent ones that left a mark on audience’s minds...

Wo Lahore

The play was first performed on stage in 2011. Director Atul Satya Kaushik, who roped in actor Avtar Gill to come on stage and recite some poetry, talks of the effects of partition on a micro level. “While other plays start with partition, this one ends with it. The play doesn’t move out of one house, that of a Hindu family residing in Lahore in the 1940s,” says Atul. The director believes that partition is still a relevant theme for theatre. “It might have been 70 years to the event, but it means that the last generation which must have been witness to it is still alive, so they still talk about it. Every story that comes out becomes text for a play or a movie. Also, our political will has never allowed it to fade from our memories. Thirdly, art is based on either romance or tragedy and Partition was one of the biggest human tragedies,” he says, adding that his intent behind this play was to promote brotherhood and secularism.

Jis Lahore Nahi Dekhya

Asghar Wajahat wrote this play somewhere in the ’80s, about an old Hindu woman left behind in Lahore post-partition and a Muslim family coming to reside in it. In 2003, Dinesh Thakur’s Ank updated the play to include elements from the Godhra riots. “In the last couple of years, the play has also become about all the different problems happening in the name of religion the world over. We want to show that humanity doesn’t know religious boundaries,” says Preeta Mathur, President of Ank.

Pakistan Aur Alzheimer’s 

M Sayeed Alam’s Pakistan Aur Alzheimer’s opened in Bhopal in 2005. Alam, whose grandfather stayed back in India during the Partition, suffered from Alzheimer’s in his later years. “He would think of Pakistan as one of the cities of India and would often write imaginary letters to his brother-in-law, who had moved to the neighbouring country during partition, imploring him to come back. But in the garb of humour, he would say a lot of sensible things. I decided to pen down his memoirs in the form of a monologue for the stage,” says Alam. The tragicomedy play, says the director, focusses on other aspects of the event. “Some of our relatives who went to Pakistan, went there in search of greener pastures. So one cannot see Partition in terms of black and white,” says Alam.

Toba Tek Singh

Ambal Productions’ Toba Tek Singh, a solo show by Mohit Sharma that opened in March 2014 has completed 58 shows so far and continues to enthrall audiences. Saadat Hasan Manto’s famous short story sees Mohit enacting all 19 characters on stage. “It was a combination of two factors. One, the commercial logistics of doing this play anywhere in the world, and two, I was trying to challenge myself as a performer,” he says. The reason it has managed to strike such a chord with audiences, feels the actor-director, is because of the subject and Manto’s writing. “It is largely because of the premise, the theme and Manto’s writing. The performance comes in later,” he states.

Kharaashein, Lakeerein and Manto Mantra

All the three plays, produced by Essay Communications, deal with the pain and trauma of partition in their own ways. Gulzar’s Kharaashein is a collage of his literary creations on riots. One of the stories, Raavi-Paar reveals a tragedy reflecting on our inability to learn from the past, while Lakeerein offers a peek into the lives of people divided by common history and culture, whose lives got affected by lines drawn on a piece of paper. In Manto Mantra, one of the stories, Akhri Salute is about two friends, Ram Singh and Rab Niwas, who find themselves on opposite sides of the border as soldiers. The thick friends, who joined the army together, are now enemies. Says director Salim Arif, “Whatever problems we are facing in the country today, somewhere find their roots in the Partition of India. It is an important subject to deal with on stage to keep reminding ourselves and others that we must not get swayed by communal politics or communal mindsets.”