From Habib’s playhouse

He would go through each line rigorously but I also noticed how relaxed he was. He was serious about his work but not a solemn person. His humour reflected in his work

— Anjum Katyal, writer

Nageen Tanvir recounts an incident about her father from the time when the name Habib Tanvir alone did not pull crowds to theatres. Fourteen shows had been booked at a Delhi auditorium for a play, she says, but nobody turned up. "The play featured folk artistes but the hall was empty. My father was undeterred. He said, 'I will watch'. And he did — one day from the balcony, another day from the aisle, some other day from the front row. He was obstinate in that way," she says.

A new book, Habib Tanvir: Towards Inclusive Theatre (SAGE Publications; Rs 695) by Anjum Katyal, now presents a study of how Habib brought folk artistes, a marginalised group, onto the mainstream stage as equal participants in India's cultural development. This is also the first English-language book of its kind.

Kolkata-based writer Katyal says that she was a young editor at a publishing house when she landed a project to translate Habib's iconic Charandas Chor into English in the early '90s. Till then, she had only known Habib through his plays. "He would go through each line rigorously but I also noticed how relaxed he was. He was serious about his work but not a solemn person. His humour reflected in his work," she says.

Though Katyal drew upon her knowledge of Habib's theatre collected over the years, research for the latest work began two years ago. Towards Inclusive Theatre is a lucid journey through Habib's life, with interesting episodes enlivening the pages. Katyal stresses on the inclusiveness of Habib's theatre and how he merged his education gained in London with the earthy flavour of Chattisgarhi theatre to create plays that were modern yet rooted. "Though his later plays did use urban actors, the troupe of Chhattisgarh remained at the core of the production," says Katyal, who also debunks the myth that Habib worked only with folk literature. "He has also worked on classical and literary texts such as Bertolt Brecht and William Shakespeare," she says.

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