Nemi Chandra Jain, a multi-faceted creative personality, has left a profound impact on the country’s cultural landscape as a Hindi poet, editor, literary critic, teacher and theatre critic. As a tribute to his immense contributions, his birth centenary is being organised by Natarang Pratishthan, an organisation founded by him to publish theatre magazine and serve as an archive to save rare theatrical documents. Various events to focus on different fields of his creativity will be organised by the Pratishthan at regular intervals throughout the year. As part of the centenary celebrations “Sakshatkar Adhura Hai” was staged by Rang Vidushak, Bhopal at Abhimanch recently.
Written by Pashupati Sharma, the play is structurally a docu-drama. We watch facets of life-journey of Nemi Chandra from his early life in Agra and his early marriage with Rekha Jain. We get some glimpses of small-town mentality and the taboos women were subjected to like the use of the long veil. He persuaded his wife to get rid of this orthodox practice. Here we watch some heartwarming sequences between the husband and his minor bride. Nemi Chandra was fired with an urge to expand his vision and hence freed himself from the confines of the small town. In pursuit of knowledge and to give wings to his creative urge, he went to Kolkata, Allahabad, and Mumbai with his wife. In this challenging but meaningful journey, he wrote poems said to be a trendsetter, came in contact with great Hindi poets of the times like Muktibodh, Bharat Bhushan Agarwal, Ageya and Kedar Nath Singh and edited magazines.
In Kolkata, he came in touch with Shombhu Mitra, seriously discussing Mitra’s innovation in theatrical art against the backdrop of epoch-making Bengali theatre and its serious political and social concerns.
The play also offers us sequences about the educational, cultural and political growth of Rekha Jain. A coy little girl in a small town transformed into a dancer sharing stage with great peoples' dancers like Rubi Dutt who married Prof. P.C. Joshi. She finally rose to be the pioneer of children theatre as playwright, director, and designer. Both Nemi Chandra and Rekha were actively involved in the activities of Indian People’s Theatre Association, playing a prominent role in the national cultural programme by IPTA in Allahabad in 1949.
Nemi Chandra’s life in Mumbai was momentous. Here he came in close contact with P.C. Joshi, the then general secretary of Communist Party of India. Here his poems were published in progressive magazines in which Kaifi Azmi also used to contribute. He edited magazines of the Party and got acquainted with the culture of living in a 'commune'. Joshi would often compare the poems of these two poets. Nemi Chandra finally returned to Delhi and joined NSD as a teacher and Rekha founded Umang, a theatre institution for children.
The script missed one important aspect of Nemi Chandra's contribution as a theatre critic. For theatergoers, he was a legend. The production could have elaborated this point. Old timers remember that Nemi Chandra would reach to the office of The Statesman as soon as the show was over. He would file his review which would appear the following morning to be read by curious theatre artists and discerning theatergoers. Being a poet, a scholar and exposed to the works of great contemporary Indian theatre directors, his reviews were remarkable for deep scholarship and passion for the theatre. In the words of Bhanu Bharti, his student at National School of Drama, his reviews were "lighthouse" which illuminated the vision of theatre practitioners and fellow theatre critics. The production deals with this vital aspect just as a passing reference. Similarly, it misses the important point about his political ideology which was influenced by Comrade P.C. Joshi, especially his cultural policy. He became disillusioned with the CPI when it debunked Joshi's political line.
The script seems to have been written with a view to incorporate maximum events from the life of Nemi Chandra and present it in the form of chronological order. To make his script effective, the playwright should have selected a most vital point in Nemi Chandra's eventful life which would have embodied the essence of his creative genius.
However, the production under the direction of Fareed Bazmi is finely acted and conceptualised. Minimalistic set design by Ved Pahuja and light design by seasoned theatre practitioner Ashok Bhagat create the right kind of ambience to impart visual depth to the sequences. At places because of stylistic light effects, some expressionistic ambience is projected upstage which lent the poetic content riveting imagery.
On the whole, the production brings alive the milestones in the life of Nemi Chandra, his struggle, his inner disquiet to give expression to his creative world and finally a life lived meaningfully.
and hugely honoured by the state and cultural bodies
