Stage paves way towards bridging class divide

In what could be described as theatrical, upper class youth are joining theatre group

Bahujan Rangbhoomi

in their quest for a more equal society

When Preeti Upadhyay, a 18 year old student of mass communication decided that she wanted to delve in theatre, her choice was to join Bahujan Rangbhoomi, a local theatre group that has Ambedkar thoughts as its dominant theme. Preeti’s father abhorred the idea. He wanted her to join something more suited to her upbringing and mindset.

“You will be a misfit there as you don’t understand their lives and issues. Go to a place where there are people like you,” he told her. But Preeti says that that’s the exact reason why she wanted to join this particular theatre group of Virendra Ganvir. “My father had reservations as I am born in a Brahmin home. But I feel my generation is really not interested in this caste divide. We pitch for equality and this is what I experienced here.”

Over the last few years, Ganvir, a theatre writer, director and actor, has seen a spurt of students from upper class homes in his theatre group, which he had formed to channelize and groom young children in the schedule caste and schedule tribe category. Ganvir draws his firepower from Ambedkar’s teachings and writings. Nagpur is also the city where Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar called upon the Dalits to convert to Buddhism way back in 1956.

“Over the last couple of years, the thinking among the youth has changed. I find them more open minded and embracing in spite of the environment of extreme polarization that we have today,” says Ganvir. He attributes some of it to the Covid situation also. “The feeling of being pushed against the wall during the lockdown, the stories of migrants walking back home in extreme heat, sometimes barefoot and without food, the corpses piling up waiting for cremations were like scenes from parallel cinema which focuses on the marginalized. I feel that the society as a whole experienced this first hand and that has sensitized it towards the plight of Dalits too.”

What also happened over the past few years is the rise of OTT platforms which brought diverse content to our living rooms. The success of films like Jai Bhim, Karnan, the Oscar-nominated documentary Writing With Fire and the most recent Jhund which is based in Nagpur, have all contributed to an awakening towards the plight of the oppressed.

The protests at JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia universities, victimization of minorities and Dalits has in some way contributed to this desire to pitch for equality among the youth, according to Shreyash Athkar, a dropout of VNIT who joined Bahujan Rangbhoomi.

“I won’t like to say that joining Ganvir sir’s theatre group is about being awakened. I was aghast at the disdain that exists on the campus of even technical institutes towards SC-ST students. Education is all about inculcating a scientific temper and also about respect for all and especially the constitution of our country. It terrifies me to think that students of Std 9 and 10 actually pulled down the national flag and hoisted a saffron flag during the hijab protests in Karnataka. Youth is the future and this future will get destroyed if we don’t work towards equality, be it of caste or religion, in our society,” says Akhtar.

What is also attracting these youths towards Ambedkar thoughts is the fearless and casteless society that it advocates. They are now comparing it with the growing oppression of the marginalized. “Even the OBCs who never actually belonged to the SC and ST sections are feeling the heat,” says Uttkarsh Tayde, an actor who has also trained under Ganvir.

“The medical seats for OBC candidates have not been filled. Manual scavenging, which was banned by the Supreme Court in 1993, still continues, in Chhattisgarh tribals were stopped from staging a play depicting their plight. Society really doesn’t pay heed to the marginalized. What can be sadder than the fact that the death of Tathagat Gaikwad, a second year student of FTII Pune who was also part of the film Jhund and gave it its tag line ‘Jhund nahi team kaho, didn’t even find mention anywhere,” says Tayde.

“I feel Dalit theatre and literature helps in focusing on their issues and sensitizes the youth towards the less privileged,” he adds.

The family of Ayush Tiwari has till date not been able to reconcile with the fact that he is part of Bahujan Rangbhoomi. “My father told me that I will be sidelined and will have no position there. But I was given a lead role in the play Jogiya. I am here to explode the myth that Bahujan means only SC and ST. There is a place here for everyone. There are no hierarchies and no inequality. That’s exactly how our future society should be,” says Ayush smiling at the fact that here he has to say Jai Bhim by way of greeting while at home it is Jai Shri Ram.

“Also, I have to remove the black thread around my ankle, the red thread on my wrist and lockets from my neck as they are all symbols of caste and religion,” Ayush adds.

For Virendra it is this support which sustains him. “My play ‘Gataar’ based on manual scavenging recently had it’s 50th show. That wouldn’t have been possible if all segments of society were not coming to watch it,” he says.