Gursharan Singh:
A
life of revolution, and no regret
Gursharan Singh at his home Guru Khalsa Niwas in Putli Ghar Amritsar.
1986
photo by Amarjit Chandan
“It is a long battle, the battle of changing
mindsets,” Gursharan Singh, who has died aged 82, once said of
his theatre movement. It exhausted some, some drifted away, and
some are still fighting on. But he was never bitter. “None of
them was an opportunist, none was dishonest,” he said.
For
some time now, his audience had been limited by his family and
near ones. It was easy to provoke him to speak; but nobody could
stop him, and he would have to be taken for dialysis much sooner.
They
say it takes a moment to shape a hero. For Gursharan Singh, that
moment arrived five decades ago at the Bhakhra dam site in Nangal,
when looking at the gushing Sutlej waters, he wondered if, like
these waters, it was possible to change the course of people’s
thoughts. Little did anyone realise that “laboratory wala”
Gursharan Singh, an engineer at the hydro project, would soon
weave a cultural revolution in Punjab. And a new genre of theatre
called thada theatre. Thada is Punjabi for ‘platform’, and he performed
wherever he found one.
From
villages in rural Punjab to the corridors of power in Delhi, he
took his voice of dissent everywhere. Thanks to him, even the
unlettered in Punjab know what theatre is.
While
some critics termed his theatre as an “artless slogan”,
Gursharan never talked finesse. His theatre was for the betterment
of society. He was the one who forced the state to make mention of
mother’s name in school certificates necessary. When youngsters
were being killed in fake encounters during the Naxalite movement
in the 1970s, he questioned the state’s acts through Kiv
Koode Tuttey Paal; when the freedom to express had been
snubbed during the Emergency, he came up with the play Band
Kamre and was put behind bars in September 1976 for a while;
when terrorists were silencing every voice of dissent, he
challenged them by staging Hit
List in front of Golden Temple. He was also a strong follower
of Guru Nanak’s rationalist thinking.
His
theatre group also produced some world classics by Bertolt Brecht
and Samuel Beckett in Punjabi, and he himself penned some of the
most memorable dramas written in Punjabi language. But he declared
that “elite theatre” is not suitable for the poor masses of
India, and that the need of the time was to develop theatre that
pays heed to the limitations of rural society. After him, there
are many who are taking forward his legacy. Veterans like Ajmer
Aulakh too credits Singh for inspiring him: “It is a sad day but
there are many who will take Gursharan Singh’s legacy
forward.”
Gursharan Singh with Pritam Piasa in Lohey di Bhatthi based on an English drama on mine workers. It was adapted by Jatinder Singh Brar. Amritsar. Circa 1973. Photographer unknown
Singh
was criticised for following the leftist ideology by veterans like
Balwant Gargi and Surjit Singh Sethi. But he believed party
politics was a different thing, and it was important for one to
have an ideology.
As
the word spread about Singh’s death, people from every corner of
[East] Punjab wanted to make it to the cremation. And they all
walked towards his house - members of labour organisations raising
red flags, farmers with green flags, writers, young theatre
artistes - renting the air with the slogan: Long Live Gursharan
Singh.
-
Sarika
Sharma
Gursharan Singh Punjabi theatre director born Multan
September 16 1929; died September 27 2011 Chandigarh
[Courtesy: The Daily Post Chandigarh