Thematic and Technical Evaluation of Asif Currimbhoy’s Plays

Pages:97-100
Sushil Chahar, J.K. Sharma and Manjeet Kumar (Department of English CMJ University, Shillong, Meghalaya, S.J.K. College Kalanaur, Rohtak, CR College of Education, Rohtak)

There is a dearth of opportunities for Indian dramatists to subject their plays to the acid test of a living theatre in his own country. This has done harm to the Indian dramatists in English. Denied the discipline of the theatre, the early Indian dramatists in English-Tagore, Sri Aurobindo and T.P. Kailasam wrote plays which are essentially lyrical, allegorical and symbolic presenting an idealistic and philosophic view of life. As a result, the Indian drama in English has not shown a fresh and exciting life. It has not been able to free itself from the hangover of the Indian classical plays and the Western drama. But with the passage of time, some social and political movement gave the Indian drama in English a new lease of life. New dramatists in English like A.S.P Ayyar, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Fyzee Rahamin, and Lobo-Prabhu brought realism and satire to Indian drama in English with their social plays dealing with subjects like slum life, untouchability, widow marriage, dowry evil, exploitation of the poor by the capitalistic factory owners and conventional morality. Though quite a few of these plays are notable for their realistic situations, convincing characters and lively dialogue, they are not theatrically vital. Thus, enterprising Indian creative writers have, for nearly a century, occasionally attempted drama in English, but seldom for actual stage production. The only exception to this is Asif Currimbhoy whose plays make good theatre. His success as a playwright is closely related to the changing world of the last three decades. Currimbhoy is a prolific playwright. He has taken unusual themes from contemporary Indian society and woven them into plays of artistic excellence. Currimbhoy gathers his material mostly from a distinctly Indian experience and weaves various threads into it from the myths of yore as well as from the contemporary society. He has attempted almost every genre viz., comedy, tragedy, farce, melodrama, history and fantasy. But most of his plays are serious and he has no time for comedy in his plays excepting a few. Currimbhoy’s Inquilab, The Refugee, and Sonar Bangla may be called the Bengal triology in as much as they concern themselves with Bengal and its problems at different points of time. Inquilab explores in depth the Naxalite revolt and is a non-partisan and honest account of the violent events that overtook Calcutta in 1970. It also touches upon the problem of the refugees. Dwelling on the exodus of ten million Bangladesh refugees to India in 1971, The Refugee shows the change in status between the refugees of 1947 and those of 1971. Sonar Bangla seeks to explore the problem of the refugees and the emergence of the nation of Bangladesh after the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971. Though the Bengal trilogy is essentially topical, each play is invested with a touch of universality of appeal. Inquilab reveals that the answer to the evil and hatred of the world is generosity of understanding and radiant love which Amar, the Naxalite, finds in his father and Suprea.