The first day of the year is a sad day for art and theatre lovers, for all intellectuals and sensitive people in the country. It was the day when theatre actor Safdar Hashmi was attacked in 1989, while performing a street play. Many theatre organisations observe January 1 as a day for expression through street plays. Hashmi passed away on January 2, 1989. His association with this hill region is not very well-known. Hashmi had taught English literature at the HNB Garhwal University in the seventies.
His death anniversary is observed here as “Abhivyakti Diwas” (A day for expression). He had ties with well-known writers and theatre activists of Doon including Dr.Atul Sharma. Kuldeep Madhwal, Ashok Chakravarty,Rajiv Kothari and Vijay Sharma.Ever since Hashmi’s death, “Drishti” organization in Doon has been observing January 1 (the day he was attacked) as a day for expression through Street Plays
Groups of young and old theatre actors and directors gather in various parts of the hill state to pay homage to the memory of Hashmi who was attacked in 1989 while performing a street play, Halla Bol (Attack!), during Ghaziabad municipal elections, at Jhandapur village in Sahibabad (near Delhi). Halla Bol touched on issues of workers’ rights and the right to perform in the face of injustice. When the group was attacked, Safdar attempted to help others escape and was killed with iron rods. Two days after his death, his wife Moloyshree Hashmi went back to Sahibabad with the Jan Natya Manch (JANAM) troupe to finish the performance of Halla Bol, saying: “It is what Safdar would have wanted.”
Safdar Hasmi was born on April 12, 1954 in Delhi to Haneef and Qamar Azad Hashmi. He spent the early part of his life in Aligarh and Delhi.He completed his schooling in Delhi and then graduated from St.Stephen’s College in English literature, and did M.A. English from Delhi University. It was here that he became a associated with the cultural unit of ‘Student Federation of India’, the youth wing of the CPI-M, and eventually with IPTA, with which he went on to work on several plays during his college years.
Uttarakhand is indeed proud to have had a personality like Hashmi as a teacher in its prestigious university .He also taught in Delhi University and Kashmir University.This was during the mid seventies. After brief stints of teaching at Zakir Husain College, Delhi, and the Universities at Srinagar, Garhwal and Srinagar Kashmir, he worked for a period as Press Information Officer at the West Bengal Information Centre at New Delhi. These years, during which he had initially tried to find himself in an academic career, eventually encompassed an intense period of revolutionary activity when circumstances and a maturing inclination brought together an early interest in theatre and a growing political commitment.In December 1983 he became a full-time theatre activist and party worker.
He had co-founded Jana Natya Manch (JANAM) ,a People’s Theatre Front , in 1973, which grew out of the IPTA .Over the years ,JANAM acquired national prominence in the cultural sphere with plays such as Machine, Aurat, Gaon Se Shahar Tak ,Raja Ka Baja and Hatyare .Safdar wrote the songs for these plays and contributed greatly to the scripts which dealt with issues concerning the exploited sections of society. He organised a number of seminars and workshops on theatre and culture. Safdar was developing the idea of nation-wide democratic cultural movement and envisaged the organisation of a ‘Janotsav’ to generate forms appropriate to the experiences and struggles of the Indian people.
In recognition of his contribution to the street theatre movement and to the growth of a democratic culture, the Calcutta University conferred on Safdar Hashmi the degree of D.litt. posthumously.
Safdar’s political commitment and artistic creativity, coupled with a keen sense of fun and irrepressible friendliness and warmth, made him extremely popular not only among those he had worked with but even those who had met him only briefly. With his death the CPI(M), the Jana Natya Manch, the cultural movement and the democratic and secular forces of the country lost a beloved friend, a talented artist and a committed political activist.
In 1995, Qamar Azad Hashmi wrote a tribute to her son Safdar which ends with the words , “ “Comrade, your name, your actions, your commitment will never be forgotten. Your courage brings strength to my arms today. Your love will envelop us, today and in the future. We will not give up hope. Though you no longer walk beside us, your laughter and your songs will rise again from our throats, and when we advance to new revolutionary goals, your example will be there before us, encouraging us to forge further ahead. Comrade, farewell.”