[Reader-list] condemning ban on Charandas Chor

[prakash ray]

Press Release condemning ban on Charandas Chor:
We are shocked to learn from press reports that the BJP government of
Chhattisgarh has banned Charandas Chor, a classic of the modern Indian
theatre, written and produced by Habib Tanvir. The play was first done in
the 1970s, and is originally based on an oral folk tale from Rajasthan.
Habib Tanvir worked on this tale, introducing into it elements of the art
and beliefs of the Satnami community. Satnami singers and dancers have
performed in this play, and it has been seen by members of the community
several times. In Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, there are several rural
troupes who are today performing some version of this play.

The play itself is the story of a thief who, under the influence of a guru,
pledges never to tell a lie. He sticks to his pledge, even at the cost of
his life. This superb tragic-comedy, in a thoroughly entertaining and
artistic manner, brings into focus the moral and ethical degeneration of our
society, in which, paradoxically, it is a thief who ends up being more
honest than those who supposed to be the custodians of our morality.

Charandas Chor remains Habib Tanvir’s best-known play, and has been
performed literally hundreds of times by his world-renowned Naya Theatre
troupe all over India and in several countries across the world. It was made
into a film by Shyam Benegal, with Smita Patil in the lead, in 1975, and was
the first Indian play to win the prestigious Fringe First award at the
Edinburgh Theatre Festival in 1982. It then did a successful run on the
London stage.

We demand that the Chhattisgarh government immediately revoke this absurd
ban.

Arvind Gaur
Brijesh
Govind Deshpande
Javed Malick
Madangopal Singh
M.K. Raina
Moloyashree Hashmi
N.K. Sharma
Shahid Anwar
Sudhanva Deshpande
Vivan Sundaram
Wamiq Abbasi
Act One Theatre Group
Asmita Theatre Group
Bahroop Art Group
Jana Natya Manch
Jan Sanskriti
Janvadi Lekhak Sangh
Sahmat