Theatre to teach and incite

Hyderabad: The first time he stepped on stage, as a nine-year-old, he ran out of fear. His teacher had warned him that he’d hit him if he dared come in again. But Bhaskar Shewalkar did. The former HoD of Theatre Arts at the UoH, started off performing skits during the Ganesh festival, but theatre soon became a medium to express concerns.

“My father passed away when I was young. I lived with my mother in a basti and worked in a hotel. A lot of people would ask why I worked in a hotel and it upset me. So I wrote  a play out of that bitter experience called Humko Kaun Khilayega (Who will feed us), where I ask the same people if they were going to help me out.”

Since 1971, Shewalkar has worked extensively with children. In old city, he used theatre to help kids learn Urdu. He even staged concepts of maths and science using applied theatre.

Shewalkar, who founded the Rangadhara Theatre, also stresses on the importance of street theatre, where one could be wearing anything, but essay the role of a king or a pauper. “Safdar Hashmi was murdered while staging Halla Bol in Ghaziabad. That’s how effective street theatre is. It’s not about starting a revolution, it’s about raising awareness.”

A commerce graduate, the 74-year-old adds that theatre is in his blood and he wants to keep at it, till he can, “I have put up  lights, even swept the stage and have been a part of wonderful productions. I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he says.