Monday, July 27, 2009

In Memoriam: Great masters: Habib Tanvir 1


This post is so overdue... I am ashamed that it couldn't have been done earlier.. and it is still incomplete so it will be in parts..

Last month was Guru Purnima (learn more here); when we acknowledge, respect and honour the contributions of our teachers in our life..spiritual or otherwise..( but then, shouldn't all learning be considered spiritual? maybe not... a lot of nonsense out there as well).

Guru= teacher-preceptor.. or in my opinion anybody who has made a difference in my journey by inspiring and teaching me to achieve greater heights than I would have otherwise.

So firstly with adoration and obeisance at the feet of my Guru, I proceed to remember some masters who recently passed on, who made a profound contribution to the fields they were associated with and to my life and journey in particular.

The first and foremost is a theatre Legend whom I had the privilege of a brief but lovely interaction and of all the masters who have influenced me so far, the only one I have actually met.



HABIB TANVIR (1st sept 1923-8th jun 2009) was no ordinary man. Acclaimed theatre director& playwright, poet, lyricist, actor, singer and teacher to many while running a professional troupe, Naya theatre for half a century!!
You can read about his life and work on the net.. There is the website habibtanvir.org ..one good article is this: Habib Tanvir: The making of a Legend by Javed Malik another here by Nilanjana Roy, The BS column: Habib Tanvir
A beautiful tribute ' A farewell to the bard of Bhopal ' by Sudhanva Deshpande who made two documentaries on him and Naya Theatre.
Another interesting item is an interview from 2004, "Art is always anti-establishment"