RickieDumas3: minor cleanup

2026-03-19T16:22:54Z

minor cleanup

108.49.100.213 at 13:23, 1 January 2022

2022-01-01T13:23:48Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian Political Playwright and director, best known for street theatre}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Safdar Hashmi
| image = SafdarHashmi.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1954|04|12}}
| birth_place = [[Delhi]], India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1989|01|02|1954|04|12}}
| death_place = [[Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh]], India
| occupation = Author, Street theatre, Activist
| spouse = Moloyshree Hashmi
| relatives = [[Saba Azad]] (niece)
| period = 1973–1989
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| signature =
| website =
}}
'''Safdar Hashmi''' (12 April 1954 – 2 January 1989) was a communist playwright and director, best known for his work with [[street theatre]] in India. He was also an actor, lyricist, and theorist, and he is still considered an important voice in Indian political theatre.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060630210110/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2202/stories/20050128002109100.htm]</ref> He was an activist of the [[Students' Federation of India]] (SFI).

He was a founding member of ''[[Jana Natya Manch]]'' (People's Theatre Front; JANAM for short) in 1973, which grew out of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). He was murdered in 1989 in [[Jhandapur]], while performing a street play, ''Halla Bol''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://pd.cpim.org/2014/0112_pd/01122014_culture1.html | title=Safdar's Red-Hot Life|publisher=Pd.cpim.org | date=12 January 2014 | accessdate=3 March 2014}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Safdar Hashmi was born on 12 April 1954 in [[Delhi]], to Haneef and Qamar Azad Hashmi. He spent the early part of his life in Delhi and [[Aligarh]], where he grew up in a liberal Marxist environment, and went on to complete his schooling in Delhi. Actress [[Saba Azad]] is his niece.

Hashmi graduated from [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi]] with a degree in English Literature, and went on to complete his M.A. in English from [[Delhi University]]. During this period, he became associated with the cultural unit of the [[Students' Federation of India]], the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and eventually with the [[Indian People's Theatre Association]] (IPTA). In the years before and after his graduation, he worked on several plays with IPTA, such as ''Kimlesh'', and ''Dekhte Lena''.

==Career and activism==
{{Rquote|right|The issue is not where the play is performed (and street theatre is only a mode of ensuring that art is available to the people), but the principal issue  is the 'definite and unresolvable contradiction between the bourgeois individualist view of art and the people's collectivist view of art'. <br/>- <small>Safdar Hashmi, ''The Enchanted Arch, Or the Individual and Collective Views of Art (April 1983),'' The Right to Perform, pp. 28–29<ref name=CultureActivism/></small>}}

Hashmi co-founded the ''Jana Natya Manch'' (People's Theatre Front), with the acronym JANAM ("birth" in Hindi), in 1973. JANAM grew out of the [[Indian People's Theatre Association]] (IPTA)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2316/stories/20060825000608000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205235424/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2316/stories/20060825000608000.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2006-12-05 |title=A theatre story |publisher=Hinduonnet.com |date=2006-08-14 |access-date=2015-02-25 }}</ref> and was associated with the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]], with which he was actively involved in the 1970s.<ref name=CultureActivism/> When Indian Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]] was accused of rigging the elections, he produced a street play, ''Kursi, Kursi, Kursi'' (''Chair, Chair, Chair''), as a reaction to the controversy.<ref name=SafdarAlive>{{cite web|url=http://www.dancewithshadows.com/society/safdar-hashmi-satyendra-dubey.asp|title=Safdar Hashmi: Dying to keep ideals alive|publisher=Dancewithshadows.com|access-date=9 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002025629/http://www.dancewithshadows.com/society/safdar-hashmi-satyendra-dubey.asp|archive-date=2 October 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The play narrates the story of a king whose throne moves with him when he attempts to give it up in favour of an elected representative. The play was performed every day for a week, at the Boat Club Lawns in New Delhi, then a hub of political activity. It proved to be a turning point for JANAM.

Until 1975, JANAM performed open-air proscenium and street plays for mass audiences. When Indira Gandhi [[The Emergency (India)|imposed a state of emergency]] and made political theatre difficult, Hashmi began to work as a lecturer in English literature in universities in Garhwal, Kashmir, and Delhi.

When the Emergency ended in 1977, he returned to political activism, and in 1978, JANAM took to street theatre in a big way with ''Machine'', which was performed for a trade union meeting of over 200,000 workers on 20 November 1978.<ref name=CultureActivism>{{cite web|url=http://www.proxsa.org/culture/safdar.html|title=Safdar Hashmi Amar Rahe|publisher=Proxsa.org|accessdate=9 September 2014}}</ref> This was followed by plays on the distress of small peasants (''Gaon Se Shahar Tak''), on [[clerical fascism]] (''Hatyare & Apharan Bhaichare Ke''), on unemployment (''Teen Crore''), on violence against women (''Aurat'') and on inflation (''DTC ki Dhandhli''). Hashmi also produced several documentaries and a TV serial for [[Doordarshan]], including ''Khilti Kaliyan'' (''Flowers in Bloom''), which examined rural empowerment. He also wrote books for children and criticism of the Indian stage.<ref name=CultureActivism/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.childplanet.com/hindipoems/safdar.html |title=A Poem by Safdar Hashmi |publisher=Childplanet.com |date=2005-03-28 |access-date=2015-02-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081832/http://www.childplanet.com/hindipoems/safdar.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |df=dmy }}</ref>

Hashmi was the de facto director of JANAM, and prior to his death, it gave about 4,000 performances of 24 street plays, mostly in working-class neighbourhoods, factories and workshops.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/aug/soc-hashmi.htm|title=Remembering Safdar|publisher=Indiatogether.org|accessdate=9 September 2014}}</ref>

Hashmi was a member of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]], the largest communist party in India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/nov/05khan.htm|title=5 November 2003, Fighting for Justice till the end|work=Rediff.com|accessdate=9 September 2014}}</ref> In 1979, he married his comrade and theatre actress, Moloyshree. Later, he worked for the Press Trust of India (PTI) and ''The Economic Times'' as a journalist, and then became Press Information Officer of the Government of West Bengal in Delhi.<ref>[http://www.jananatyamanch.org/safdar_hashmi.htm ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103000456/http://www.jananatyamanch.org/safdar_hashmi.htm |date=3 January 2008 }}</ref> In 1984, he gave up his job and devoted himself full-time to political activism.<ref>[http://www.jananatyamanch.org/whats_janam.htm ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103081053/http://www.jananatyamanch.org/whats_janam.htm |date=3 January 2008 }}</ref>

Hashmi’s output includes two proscenium plays – an adaptation of [[Maxim Gorky]]’s ''Enemies'' (1983) and ''Moteram ka Satyagraha'' (with [[Habib Tanvir]], 1988) – many songs, a television series script, poems and plays for children, and documentary films. While committed to radical, popular, and left-wing art, Hashmi refrained from clichéd portrayals, and was not afraid of formal experimentation.

==Murder==
On 1 January 1989, the JANAM troupe began a performance of the street play ''Halla Bol'' (''Raise Your Voice!''), during the Ghaziabad municipal elections in [[Sahibabad]]'s Jhandapur village (near Delhi). During the performance, the troupe was attacked by political hoodlums of the [[Indian National Congress]].<ref>[http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2003-11/26deshpande.cfm] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20040215104250/http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2003-11/26deshpande.cfm |date=15 February 2004 }}</ref> Hashmi was fatally injured and died the following day. On 4 January 1989, two days after his death, his wife Moloyshree Hashmi went to the same spot again with the JANAM troupe, and defiantly completed the play.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=archiveSearch&aid=20031205002710400&ais=24&avol=20|title=Delayed justice|publisher = Frontline|accessdate=18 January 2016}}</ref>

Fourteen years after the incident, a Ghaziabad court convicted ten people, including [[Indian National Congress|Congress Party]] member Mukesh Sharma, for the murder.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://telegraphindia.com/1031106/asp/nation/story_2540958.asp|title=Judgement Details, The Telegraph, 6 November 2003|publisher=Flonnet.com|accessdate=9 September 2014}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Vidya Shah Musician sahmat delhi ist january 2010.jpg|thumb|right|Classical Singer Vidya Shah is Performing for Sahmat. 1 January 2011, New-Delhi.]]
Hashmi has become a symbol of cultural resistance against [[authoritarianism]] for the Indian left. JANAM continues its theatre work, and on 12 April 2012, Hashmi's birthday, the group inaugurated Studio Safdar, a performance and workshop space located in Shadi Khampur, near Patel Nagar in Central Delhi. The space is next door to a left-wing cafe and bookstore, May Day.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-house-for-mr-hashmi/936062/0 |title=A House for Mr Hashmi |newspaper=Indian Express |date=13 April 2012 |accessdate=13 May 2013}}</ref> The writer [[Bhisham Sahni]], along with many other artists, founded the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) in February 1989,<ref>[http://www.sahmat.org/aboutus.html ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231050028/http://www.sahmat.org/aboutus.html |date=31 December 2007 }}</ref> as an open platform for politically and socially conscious artists. Hashmi's writings were later collected in ''The Right to Perform: Selected Writings of Safdar Hashmi'' (New Delhi, 1989).

Each year on 1 January, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Day is observed as a "Day of Resolve" by SAHMAT, and a daylong cultural congregation, "Jashn-e-Daura", is organised in New Delhi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/02/stories/2008010260511700.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080104041610/http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/02/stories/2008010260511700.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 January 2008|work=[[The Hindu]]|title=The Hindi (National), 1 January 2008|date=2008-01-02|accessdate=9 September 2014}}</ref> The day is also commemorated by JANAM, which organises street plays at Jhandapur village, in Sahibabad, where he was killed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pd.cpim.org/2003/0112/01122003_safdar2.htm|title=People's Democracy, 2003|publisher=Pd.cpim/org|accessdate=9 September 2014}}</ref><ref>[http://www.cpim.org/pd/2005/0109/01092005_safdar-sahmat.htm ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050504025638/http://www.cpim.org/pd/2005/0109/01092005_safdar-sahmat.htm |date=4 May 2005 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.cpim.org/pd/2007/0107/01072007_janam.htm ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805030850/http://www.cpim.org/pd/2007/0107/01072007_janam.htm |date=5 August 2010 }}</ref> In 1998, Safdar Hashmi Natyasangham was formed in [[Kozhikode]], Kerala, which provides free training to economically backward students.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/01/stories/2008010150990200.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105110602/http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/01/stories/2008010150990200.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 January 2008|work=[[The Hindu]]|title=The Hindi, 1 January 2008|date=2008-01-01|accessdate=9 September 2014}}</ref>

The 2003 film ''[[Anbe Sivam]]'', made by [[Sundar C.]], and the 2008 film ''[[Halla Bol]]'', made by [[Rajkumar Santoshi]], were inspired by his life. The latter also depicts a scene where a street theatre activist is beaten by men hired by a political party, an incident which turns into a catalyst for a public uprising.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/indiancinema/features/article_1329137.php/Halla_Bol_based_on_Safdar_Hashmi_Santoshi__Interview_ |access-date=15 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415173050/http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/indiancinema/features/article_1329137.php/Halla_Bol_based_on_Safdar_Hashmi_Santoshi__Interview_ |archive-date=15 April 2009 }}</ref>

In 1989, the painter [[M.F. Husain]] had a painting "Tribute to Hashmi" sold at auction for over $1 million, the first time a painting by an Indian artist reached this valuation.

The 2020 book ''Halla Bol: The Death and Life of Safdar Hashmi'' by Sudhanva Deshpande recounts the events leading up to the attack on Jana Natya Manch's performance of the play ''Halla Bol'' in Jhandapur on January 1, 1989, in which Safdar sustained fatal injuries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/article30327856.ece|title = Safdar, a life extraordinary}}</ref> It also discusses Safdar's work in Jana Natya Manch.

The Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS), a non-governmental organisation from [[Lucknow]], has been awarding the Safdar Hashmi Award for Human Rights in reverence to his contributions to the cause of human rights.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k12/feb/feb150.php |title=News Headlines : Two media persons among IRDS awardees|publisher=Indiantelevision.com |date=15 February 2012 |accessdate=13 May 2013}}</ref>

A street in Mandi House, New Delhi was named after Safdar Hashmi.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-03-26|title=Safdar Hashmi Marg|url=https://roadsofdelhi.com/portfolio/safdar-hashmi-marg/|access-date=2020-12-02|website=Roads of Delhi|language=en}}</ref>

==Further reading==
* ''Halla Bol: The Death and Life of Safdar Hashmi'', by Sudhanva Deshpande, Delhi, LeftWord Books, 2020. Also in Hindi, as ''Halla Bol: Safdar Hashmi Ki Maut Aur Zindgai'', translated by Yogender Dutt, Vaam Prakashan/LeftWord Books, Delhi, 2020.
* ''The Right to Perform: Selected Writings of Safdar Hashmi'', Delhi, SAHMAT, 1989.
* ''Paanchwa Chiraag, Qamar Azad Hashmi'', (Hindi). 1995.
* Qamar Azad Hashmi, ''The Fifth Flame: The Story of Safdar Hashmi''. (Translation) Penguin Books, 1997. {{ISBN|0-670-87596-1}}.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070806112409/http://www.jananatyamanch.org/ Official website of Jana Natya Manch.]
*''Theatre of the Streets: The Jana Natya Manch Experience'', edited by Sudhanva Deshpande, Delhi: Janam, 2007.
* {{cite magazine |last1=Deshpande |first1=Sudhanva |title=Voice of the streets |url=https://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2509/stories/20080509250909300.htm |date=26 April - 9 May 2008 |magazine=Frontline |volume=25 |issue=9}}
* Vijay Prashad, ''Safdar Hashmi Amar Rahe''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pragoti.org/hi/node/2907 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-07-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415160258/http://www.pragoti.org/hi/node/2907 |archive-date=15 April 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
* Eugene van Erven, ''Plays, Applause and Bullets: Safdar Hashmi's Street Theatre''<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150924080838/http://www.pragoti.org/hi/node/2911 ]</ref>
* Vellikkeel Raghavan, ''Cross-Continental Subversive Strategies: Thematic and Methodological Affinities in the Plays of Dario Fo and Safdar Hashmi''. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Calicut. 2007.
* Vellikkeel Raghavan. ''Halla Bol''. Translation of Safdar Hashmi's Hindi play ''Halla Bol'' (1989) into English. ''Indian Literature''. Sahitya Academy, New Delhi, India. Vol. LV No. I, Issue No. 263 May/June 2011, pp. 115–137.
* Vellikkeel Raghavan. ''Machine''. Translation of Safdar Hashmi's Hindi play ''Macheen'' (1978) into English. ''Indian Literature''. Sahitya Academy, New Delhi, India. Vol. LV No. I, Issue No. 261 Jan/Feb 2011, pp. 165–173.
* Vellikkeel Raghavan. "Safdar Hashmi's ''Machine'':A Metaphor of Post-Independence Indian Industriabist Apparatus." ''Indian Literature''. Sahitya Academy, New Delhi, India. Vol. LVI, Iuuse No. 271 Sept/Oct 2012, pp. 219–232.

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.sahmat.org/ Official website of SAHMAT]
* [http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/ndtv-special-ndtv-24x7/janam-halla-bol-for-artspace/182760 Documentary on Jana Natya Manch, Safdar & Its Theatre Festival in Mumbai 'SARKASH' by NDTV]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090528171309/http://www.jananatyamanch.org/node/25 Official website of Jan Natya Manch, 'JANAM']
* [http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/activism_non_profit/watch/v198575819y6PQQZa Video Documentary "SAFDAR" by PTI and SAHMAT] (English and Hindi Mixed)
* [http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/duniyasabki.pdf Children's Poem Book ''Duniya Sabki'' (''World Is for All'') by Safdar Hashmi in Hindi]
* {{IMDb name|2519900}}
* [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE5D7133FF937A15752C0A96F948260 Interview with Safdar Hashmi, New York Times]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasmi, Safdar}}
[[Category:Indian buskers|Hashmi, Safdar]]
[[Category:Indian Marxists|Hashmi, Safdar]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist writers|Hashmi]]
[[Category:Hindi theatre]]
[[Category:1954 births|Hashmi, Safdar]]
[[Category:1989 deaths|Hashmi, Safdar]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Delhi]]
[[Category:St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:University of Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:Indian People's Theatre Association people]]
[[Category:People murdered in Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian musicians]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Activists from Delhi]]
[[Category:Musicians from Delhi]]
[[Category:Hindi-language writers]]
[[Category:Hindi dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Indian dramatists and playwrights]]

Safdar Hashmi - Revision history

RickieDumas3: minor cleanup

108.49.100.213 at 13:23, 1 January 2022