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Journalism of Courage
Vijay Tendulkar8217;s new compilation of plays for children shows he wasn8217;t just inspired by politics
Forty years ago, Vijay Tendulkar used to attract a very young audience. As they applauded, six of his plays8212;written especially for children8212;enjoyed the spotlight. Since their stage run wasn8217;t long enough, these plays soon faded into obscurity. Now, five of them are staging a comeback, albeit in print.
It isn8217;t difficult to find the reason behind it. 8220;These plays seem to have been tucked away from the arc lights, overpowered by the powerful presence of his path-breaking adult writings,8221; the translator adds. Joshi, who started translating the plays into English early last year, had to work on retaining the original flavour, pun and nuances in English.
Another challenge was to unravel what Tendulkar wanted to communicate. Interestingly, the period when the legendary playwright wrote the plays coincides with the creation of some his greatest plays like Gidhade, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe and Sakharam Binder. 8220;Tendulkar wrote the children plays in the 1960s and the early 70s,8221; says Joshi. So many find it incredulous that the dramatist who appeared to be such a harsh critic of the society, could come up with plays are so gentle. Tendulkar8217;s sixth play for children couldn8217;t be included in the collection as Joshi couldn8217;t trace it in time.
It8217;s Sulabha Deshpande who made Tendulkar write these plays. The actor, who was teaching at the Chabbildas School, Dadar, was part of the theatre movement to move away from the traditional musical theatre. Tendulkar too, was involved in this movement of presenting more relevant and realistic theatre. Deshpande urged the late dramatist to write plays for her school so that her students could take part in competitions. Deshpande says that coming from Tendulkar, the plays were amazingly 8220;simple and straightforward8221;.
Joshi, however, has a different take on it. 8220;The plays have the Tendulkar touch8212;with multiple layers.8221; For each play, Tendulkar adopted a distinct form and context. 8220;He used the idioms of folk theatre for The King and Queen Want Sweat Raja Ranila Gham Hava. This is said to be the precursor to Sakharam Binder,8221; Joshi says.
The book has four more plays8212; The Wedding of the Village Headman8217;s Daughter Patlachya Poricha Lageen, Bobby8217;s Story Bobbychi Goshta, The Play of the Nosey Parker Chambhar Chaukashiche Natak and Missing: A Father Baba Haravale Ahet.
Though these plays were not widely staged, Awishkar Theatre Group has produced them in the past. In fact, the memory-tickling black-and-white images of the plays in the book are sourced from the group. The collection8217;s cover serves as another pointer to the plays; the illustrations on it are inspired by the characters of the plays.
