City mourns Habib Tanvir

KOLKATA: Shock was on the face of every Kolkata theatre personality who heard of the death of Habib Tanvir on Monday morning. Some of them had developed personal ties with the doyen of Naya Theatre, while others watched in admiration performances by Tanvir's group, often trying to imbibe his philosophy.
"With the death of Tanvir the world is no longer what it was.Many of the people whom I grew up watching are no more. Over the years I had become very close to Tanvir and his wife. He was very sincere and affectionate," recalled theatre personality Saonli Mitra.
Tanvir's Leftist inclinations and association with the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) had made him a familiar face in Kolkata's theatre circles. The city-based theatre group Nandikar and Shamik Bandyopadhyay were instrumental in bringing Tanvir's productions to Kolkata. Tanvir's play that Kolkata remembers the best Charandas Chor was performed at the Nandikar theatre festival in 1981.
"I introduced Tanvir to the audience before the first show of Charandas Chor in Kolkata. There were barely 19 people at the show. That was the beginning of my friendship with him, though he was 11 years my senior. We had difference of opinions but always shared our views on theatre and production. His biggest contribution to theatre was a blend of folk theatre and western drama," said Rudraprasad Sengupta.
"He introduced a new style in theatre. For even Shakespeare's plays he would use folk artistes," Saonli Mitra said. In August 2006, Tanvir last came to Kolkata with his production of Tagore's Visarjan.
"I didn't like the play in entirety. But the last scene is something I'll remember all my life. In the play, Tagore didn't make it clear what happened to Raja Gobindomanikya or Rani Gunabati. Tanvir studied the history of Tripura and found out that a practice of the queen marrying the King's younger brother was prevalent. Tanvir's play ends with Gunabati sitting by the side of the new king Nakshatra Roy. That was his mastery," said Kaushik Sen, theatre personality.
Sen also cherishes the brief interaction that he had with Tanvir during the festival. "His folk theatre was not artificial. It was a representation of the people who performed in those plays," said Sen.
The festival will also remain etched in the memory of Rangakarmee's Usha Ganguly.
"He called me up on my birthday and said that he wanted to work with me. That is how Visarjan happened. The way he used folk artistes in theatre had never been tried before," Ganguly said.
Veteran theatre personality Bibhas Chakraborty feels Tanvir's death could also bring an end to his kind of theatre. "If anybody in India has made theatre for the common people, it is Tanvir. I'm afraid that this kind of theatre will die with him. His use of folk elements and commoners was unique. Everybody including the government went against him. He had to go through so much of hardship but he never quit his kind of theatre," said Chakraborty.