Indian English drama.pptx post- independence period

Indian English drama post- independence era

1. Indian English drama Post independence era

2. What is drama Drama is a work that tells a story through action and speech and is meant to be acted on stage. It has two dimensions – visual and textual Which set it apart from other genre like novel and poetry. The job of a dramatist can be quite a challenge. Drama by nature is said to be a ‘twice born activity’, written on page acted on stage.

3. Being an audio-visual medium of expression, drama has been a very powerful and effective genre in world literature written and performed in different languages and also considered to be appropriate for portraying issues such as social, cultural, political, and philosophical.

4. Indian drama Drama in India has a grand old history. It’s origin can be trust back to the vedic period. Bharata’s natyashastra is the first and most significant work on Indian poetics and drama. The supreme achievement of Indian drama and undoubtedly lies in Kalidas , the Shakespeare of India. In India Sanskrit drama flourished in its Glory till the 15 th century but thereafter Indian drama activity almost came to an end due to certain invasion on India.

5. Indian English drama Indian drama in English has its history, Heritage and culture. The rise of the modern drama dates back to the 18 th century when the British Empire strengthened its power in India. The first English drama The persecuted(1831)by Krishna Mohan Banerjee. The real journey of the Indian English drama begins with Michael Madhusudan dutt’s Is this called civilization which was written in 1871.

6. There is no denying the fact that among the various forms of Indian English, drama seem to lay far behind poetry and fiction. There is various reason behind lake of growth in English drama, like lack of living theatre, live audience, language barriers. During the British rule in India the Indian play writer who wrote dramas in English had to face many challenges. A number of Indian drama written in Indian language and produced on stage in theatre were making strides. Even in that condition dramatist like rabindranath tagore , sir aurbindo , harindranath chattopadhyay gives their contribution for growth and development of Indian English drama.

7. Indian English drama : a critical study (1987) by S. Krishna Bhatta talked about Indian drama in English written after 1950. More than two hundred play were return in English but not published or performed. Time flies and things change with the passage of time.
The 1960 to 1970 witnessed momentous changes in Indian drama.
By 1960 critics of drama were delighted to announce the arrival of Atif currimboy . He seemed to enthral the audience with his plays.

8. Atif currimboy His plays The doldrummers (1960) The dumb dancer(1961) Goa(1964) Refugee(1971) Sonar Bangla (1972) Important themes of his plays 1. Political turmoil 2. Disintegration of national boundaries. The excellence of his plays lies not in their being read on page but in being performed on stage. He’s works could mesmerized audience in theatre.

9. It was at the end of this decade in 1968 that the theatre group Bombay conferred the title of the “Sultan padmashree ” award on Gurucharan das for Lorins Saheb . In 1978, Cyrus Mistry also get this award for his drama doongaji house , a play depicting the decline fortune of Parsi family. Dina Mehta , another award winning dramatist and wrothy of admiration. she was given one of the highest accolades by BBC in 1979. Her play, Bride are not for burning vividly portrays plight and suffering of an Indian bride who does not bring enough dowry.

10. Royal court theatre (RCT) is one of the boost for Indian playwright. This organisation has been encouraging and producing contemporary drama in London since 1956. When Mahesh dattan’s bravely fought the queen was staged in UK, it drews RCT’s attention and admiration. Elyse Dodgson, associate directator of the RCT and head of the theatre’s international department, who was working in collaboration with India said, “we found a refreshing energy in Indian English theatre and decided to embark on along term relationship with the Indian playwrights” they lived up to their promise. The RCT with the help of the British council, started lending a helping hand to playwrights in India.

11. Girish karnad Girish karnad is an important contributor to theatre. His contribution goes beyond theatre. He has directed feature films, documentaries and television serials. He uses this devices of myth, folklore and history not just to visit the past but to look at the present and also the foreshadow the future. Karnad’s dramatic art Lacks stability still his success lies in the technical experiment with an indigenous dramatic form.

12. Contemporary Indian drama is experimental and innovative in terms of thematic and technical qualities. It is not an off spring of any specific tradition and it has laid the foundation of a distinctive tradition in the history of world drama by reinvestigating history, legend, myth,and religion and folklove with context to contemporary socio political issues. A increasing theoretical tradition evolved by Mohan Rakesh, Badal sarkar , Vijay Tendulkar and Girish karnad , prepared the background of contemporary Indian English theatre. Some of their drama : Girish karnad – yayati , fire and the rain Mohan Rakesh – the incomplete one Vijay Tendulkar – his fifth women, court Badal sarkar – the whole night, circle

13. By the 1980-90 Indian drama in English was moving rapidly. the leading dramatist was Mahesh dattani Manjula padmanabhar

14. Manjula padmanabhan , Mahesh dattani Manjula is the first Indian to earn international fame with her play harvest , a futuristic play. Light out, cold soup, hidden fires are her some of famous works. Mahesh dattani is one of the best playwright the country has ever produced. The play of Mahesh dattani emerged as “fresh arrival” in the domain of Indian English drama in the last decade of 20 th century. Final solution, dance like a man, bravely fought the queen, Tara are some of his works.

15. Nissim eziekel He is reputation as a dramatist rest on three Plays – nalini , marriage poem, the sleepwalkers. A common theme which runs through his plays is that the early years of the marriage seems to be sheer bliss. As soon as discords surface, things are beyond repair. The husband and the wife feel that they have made their life at terrible mess. If marriage poem was an instant hit, it owned its success to it’s “stage worthiness”. The dramatist satirizes the institutions of marriage in Indian society.

16. Indian drama in English in its new avatar in the post independence era has come a long way. It’s the duty of the writer to strike a balance between the use of English language and he is cultural moorings. Whatever mode of representation he choose to be its realism, naturalism expressionism etc. it is heartening to see that Indian dramatist is ready to meet the enormous challenge of the 21’st century that lies ahead of him. THANK YOU Miss.orca