1 - Introduction: Modern Indian Drama

Summary

What does one mean when one refers to ‘Indian theatre’? In one of the largest and most populous, and certainly most culturally diverse countries of the world, where does one begin to situate, or even, to begin with, discover – any singular phenomenon of the kind? With its fifteen national languages, and more than eight hundred dialects, the spectrum of India's cultural fabric is decidedly complex and difficult to encompass. Hence, when one talks of ‘Indian theatre’, one enters a vast and intricate arena, both idiomatically heterogeneous and polyglot in character. Although numerous strands show us the links, it is after all, an arbitrary term, randomly used to designate one or the other of the diverse performance arts practiced in the country, belonging to diverse traditions. It is extraordinarily inclusive – encompassing the classical (like the Kathakali, or some Bharatanatyam pieces), the ritual (such as the Raas, the Ramlila, or the Theyyam), the devotional (many of the musically dominant performances), the folk (like the Chhau or the Therukuttu) and the modern, partaking of sundry traditions, forms and lore, sometimes unique, and sometimes bewilderingly intermingling with each other. Dance, drama, mime, song, instrumentation, puppetry, the orally delivered narratives all combine happily, almost seamlessly in a performance by an ensemble of artistes working simultaneously.

Given such a situation, it is hardly possible to fit this convergence into neat categories of Western theatre and performance that a student of Western literatures is wont to do, although it is possible to find working categories within its own socio-historico-political ambit, as within its own traditions.