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Rising to the fore

DIWAN SINGH BAJELI

“Bhoomi” highlights the plight of the urban marginalised in an unfair social system.



A powerful statement From “Bhoomi”.

Bhoomi”, presented by Indu Art Theatre and Film Society, at LTG Auditorium, this past week severely indicts an economic system that perpetuates inequality resulting in an increase in the number of urban poor and dispossessed farmers in the rural areas. After projecting a human landscape of misery, hopelessness and alienation, the play moves to a situation in which the exploited unite themselves, starting a relentless struggle to liberate themselves from the bondage of their oppressors.

The play has been directed and written by Yasin Khan who has been active in amateur theatre in the Capital for the last one and a half decades.

He apprenticed under R.S. Vikal, who was known for his experimental works in the early eighties in the Capital, but before he could establish himself as a socially relevant and artistically valid theatre artist he was lured by Bollywood.
The urban marginalised

As a writer, Yasin highlights the plight of the urban marginalised like the rickshaw-pullers, rag-pickers and hawkers, who are migrants from villages and are often beaten and abused by the police and humiliated by a cruel urban society.

Their conditions have dehumanised them. It’s an absurd life they lead but even in the absurdity of their existence, in the silence of night, they have a few moments of solace when they become nostalgic about their lives in the village.

These characters are feckless; neither can they go back to their roots nor does urban society allowthem to get a place of respect.

Juxtaposing this black and sombre image, the writer-director takes us to the struggle of farmers against the acquisition of their land by multi-national companies and big national capitalist with the support of the state. There are agent-provocateurs, who have penetrated the spontaneous mass movements of the farmers, giving the movement a violent turn, resulting in the death of farmers in brutal police firing.

Gradually,there emerges a leadership from amongst the ranks of farmers to lead the movement.

Yasin has imbibed Vikal’s social concerns and his sharp criticism of an unjust social system, but Vikal was also a craftsman.

Yasin’s production is half-baked . The opening scene showing the harmonious life of a village community and their simple joys is presented in a shoddy manner. The other flaw of his production is his unimaginative use of acting space.

He has mostly placed his actors in an upstage position.

He should have known that actors standing downstage, near the audience, could have left a deep impact on the audience.

Despite an inadequately rehearsed production and an amateurish cast, “Bhoomi” manages to communicate its message without attempting a simplistic solution to a complex issue.

The use of the song “ Tu Zinda Hai To Zindagi Ki Jeet Par Yakeen Kar”, a song popularised by Indian People’s Theatre Association, in the denouement, is a redeeming feature of the production.