After the National School of Drama (NSD) “postponed” a theatre production of Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas that was supposed to open this Independence Day, there is now palpable tension among those involved in the play with no word from the institute on when the show had been postponed to.
The NSD Repertory was putting up the production at the Abhimanch Auditorium from August 14 to 20 – as part of their end-of-the-session show.
After over one and a half months of practice, rehearsals and production, however, the NSD put up a statement on social media, announcing that it was postponing the show indefinitely – two days before opening.
While the NSD had said it was postponing the show due to “unavoidable circumstances”, the days preceding this had seen a social media campaign amplified by certain accounts linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), questioning the NSD over their choice of putting up a play based on Tamas.
The social media campaign was kick-started by a message on a chat group by former Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP, Balbir Punj. In the message, he called Mr. Sahni a “Vampanthi” (Leftist) and said that his novel Tamas, “directly or indirectly” held the RSS responsible for communal violence during India’s partition – which was “factually wrong”.
As this message was passed around in chat groups, several accounts linked to either RSS or affiliated outfits, then posted protest messages on X (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms. The users tagged Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Meenakshi Lekhi, both of whom were slated to appear as special guests for the opening show on August 14.
Mr. Punj told The Hindu, “I have said what I wanted to say in the message that I had posted on the chat group. I do not wish to say anything else on this matter.”
Even though the social media campaign had preceded the postponement of the shows, the NSD Repertory’s chief Rajesh Singh told The Hindu, “Firstly, the show has not been cancelled. Secondly, it has been postponed for a later date which has not yet been decided. It was postponed for some internal reason and the next dates will now be only after the new session of the Repertory starts.”
He added that the Repertory intended to perform this play in a bid to highlight the horrors of Partition and the subsequent fallout in society, as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to mark August 14 as a remembrance day.“ Mr. Sahni was a pioneering writer and chronicler of his time and that is why his take on society at the time was picked,” he said.
When asked whether outrage on social media was a reason for the postponement, Mr. Singh said, “I do not know that was the reason.” The NSD Director’s Office was unavailable for a comment.
People associated with the production of the show said they only hoped to be able to perform it as they had rehearsed it extensively. One of them, wishing to remain anonymous, told The Hindu, “It had been rehearsed by all artists for the last two months or so. We only want that the hard work is not wasted just as any artist would want. But as of now, there is no word on when the shows will happen.”
