Vibhanshu Vaibhav has written plays and adapted stories for the stage. His play “Maharathi” has brought him acclaim as an important playwright in Hindi. Similarly, his adapted plays like “Gunda” and “Babuji” have fascinated several directors. In the early nineties B.V. Karanth, the doyen of Indian theatre, directed “Babuji” for Shri Ram Centre Repertory. After more than two decades, Surjit Singh staged “Babuji” at SRC auditorium recently which evoked tremendous response from the audience. Surjit Singh fell in love with “Babuji” since as a student of theatre at SRC he saw Karanth’s production of the play. Deeply moved by the theme of the play, he has finally succeeded in staging it.
“Babuji” opens at a point when the narrative is reaching towards the climax and the exposition, the development of dramatic conflict is revealed through flashback. This device makes the audience curious to know what happens next and how the crisis will be resolved.
The play depicts the tragic life of a folk singer who sacrifices his domestic life to devote his entire life to his art of Nautanki. Defying conventional values of his high caste, he marries a girl with a history of premarital affair. Despite being a newly married young man, his passion for his art continues to remain intense. The members of his group, including a young female singer-dancer assemble at his house, rehearsing. The group goes to perform from one place to another. Unable to bear the social condemnation of the folk artist called Babuji, the family consisting of Babuji's wife, two sons and a daughter leave their home and move to stay away with the brother of the mother. Now the singer has no one to disturb him, his house becomes a hub of professional singers, instrumentalists and female dancers who are despised by the villagers, who flock to their performances to fairs to be entertained, want to keep them at arm's length.
Twist to the plot
Then there is a sudden twist to the plot. The family returns with two grown up sons and a young daughter. Taking possession of the house, they forcibly oust Babuji, his artists and his fans. Old and sick but undaunted, Babuji moves to another place and once again reorganises his group. On demand, he keeps on performing.
Disowning father, the family now headed by the elder employed son struggles to restore their honour in their upper caste society. It manages to arrange the marriage of the daughter with the son of a Thakur. On the wedding evening in the midst of celebration and excitement an unexpected incident takes place.
The climax tends to be contrived. The director is not able to handle his large cast while composing the mass scenes which tend to be clumsy at places. If the director had used pauses, the emotional conflict would have acquired intensity. The production is not able to strike a critical comment on the inhumanity of a moribund feudal system to have the contemporary relevance of the production. There is an element of irony in the way bridegroom's father invites Babuji to perform at his son’s wedding without knowing that Babuji is the father of the bride. Babuji and his group perform. He is killed by the muscle-men when he tries to save the honour of his female dancer from the clutches of the lecherous and brute father of the bridegroom. The family refuses to accept the body and the villagers take Babuji's body for cremation.
The large chorus consisting of more than a dozen trained singers led by Bhanu Pratap Singh, Anjali Dhaka and Pooja occupies its place offstage which provides enough space for performers to act.
In the lead role Rajesh Tiwari, a graduate from National School of Drama, is the cynosure of all eyes. Both as a singer and actor, his presence on the stage enriches the production. Shweta Kulshresth as Surasati, the professional singer-dancer in the group of Babuji, portrays her role with sensitivity. Her Surasati deeply loves Babuji and stands by him when his life is full of tribulations. Provin Kumar Bharti as the father of bridegroom in the brief role brings to fore the brute, arrogant and lecherous character of Thakur. Avinash Tiwari in the role of narrator narrates the story with a touch of empathy for Babuji. He frequently steps out the character of Narrator to play the role of the younger son of Babuji and decides to join the funeral procession of his father.
