Rajinder Nath, who shaped city theatre scene, no more

New Delhi: Rajinder Nath, whose theatre group Abhiyan's decision to perform plays solely from Indian languages was seminal in shaping the city's theatre scene and whose 11-year stint as director of Shri Ram Centre for Arts and Culture was marked by the setting up of its repertory and its spartan basement theatre, passed away at his residence on Thursday. He was 90."He wasn't doing well for the past three-four years. But his condition worsened in the last 10 days," Subhash Gupta, theatre director and long-time associate, told PTI.Vijay Tendulkar's Jaat Hi Poochho Sadhu Ki and Ghasiram Kotwal, G P Deshpande's Udhwastha Dharmashala (all from Marathi), Debashish Majumdar's Tamrapatra and Badal Sircar's Pagla Ghoda (both from Bengali) are among the most remembered plays he directed. He also helmed Mohan Rakesh's Drar (sic) as a teleplay.Kulbhushan Kharbanda, T P Jain, Sudha Chopra were among the founder members of Abhiyan. "Rajinder Nath was among the founders of contemporary group theatre in the Hindi belt," said Arvind Gaur of Asmita Theatre. Others who worked with him include Om Puri, Ram Gopal Bajaj, S M Zaheer and Uttara Baokar. Tendulkar had once described Om Puri's performance in Ghasiram Kotwal as "the most perfect embodiment of Nana (saheb)," wrote Dilip Kumar Basu in a monograph on him.Actor Sushma Seth said that Rajinder Nath would always give his actors an opportunity to provide their interpretation of a role first. "He would offer his own vision of the character, only if he disagreed with the interpretation," said Seth, who performed in Abhiyan productions such as Hanush, Bikhre Bimb and Ek Chadar Maili Si. Adds Gaur, "In his design of plays, the actor was always at the centre."His plays were appreciated for their austere honesty. Jaat ... .was performed every year from 1978-2004 with the original cast, Rajinder told Sansad TV in a 2019 interview. "Towards the end, hero Zaheer had lost hair. But we went ahead without a wig. When a good actor performs, the magic of theatre takes over," he said.Rajinder was born in Dalwal, in today's north Pakistan's Chakwal district. His earliest memory of acting was delivering a single line in a village Ram Lila. He quickly discovered that he loved acting. And even Partition didn't take it away. In his early college years, he was guided by legendary theatreperson Frank Thakurdas, whom he described as his "guru.""After my post-graduation in English from Kirorimal College, I got clarity that I wanted to teach and do theatre," he said in the same interview. Rajinder taught briefly there but served Rajdhani College as English lecturer from 1965-1994. Abhiyan was founded in 1967.Rajinder was director of Shri Ram Centre for Art and Culture from 1976 to 1981 and again from 1983-89. In 1980, he started the SRCPA repertory company and also its annual theatre festival. In 1977, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for direction. He also edited Theatre India, NSD's journal. It was a rich life, well lived.