Jana Natya Manch (People's Theatre Front; Janam for short) is a New Delhi-based amateur theatre company specialising in left-wing street theatre in Hindi. It was founded in 1973 by a group of Delhi's radical theatre amateurs who sought to take theatre to the people. Theatre personality Safdar Hashmi is the best-known figure associated with the troupe.
Janam collects donations after each performance and funds its work in this manner. As a matter of policy, the group does not accept donations or grants from state, corporate or NGO agencies. The company does street as well as open-air proscenium performances, and also occasionally organises talks, discussions, workshops, exhibitions, film shows, etc.
The company has performed its plays in festivals organised by Prithvi Theatre (Mumbai), National School of Drama (New Delhi), Sahitya Kala Parishad (New Delhi), Natrang Pratishthan (New Delhi), Sangeet Natak Akademi (Kerala), Natya Akademi (West Bengal) and others.
So far this group of self-trained actors has done over 8,500 performances of nearly 80-odd street plays and 16 proscenium plays in about 140 cities in India. The company has performed outside India once, in spring 2007, when they toured the United States, performing, lecturing and conducting workshops on several university and colleges campuses.
Early history
Janam was founded in 1973 by a group of Delhi’s left-wing theatre amateurs, who sought to take theatre to the people. It was inspired by the spirit of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA). Its early plays, though initially designed for the proscenium, were performed on makeshift stages and chaupals in the big and small towns and villages of North India. It also experimented with street skits.
Janam’s street theatre journey began in October 1978. The first play Machine with lyrical, stylised dialogues depicted the exploitation of industrial labour. Janam has played a significant role in popularising street theatre as a form of voicing anger and public opinion. It has done plays on price rise, elections, communalism, economic policy, unemployment, trade union rights, globalisation, women’s rights, education system, etc. Some of its best-known street plays are Hatyare, Samrath ko Nahi Dosh Gosain, Aurat, Raja ka Baja, Apaharan Bhaichare Ka, Halla Bol, Mat Banto Insaan Ko, Sangharsh Karenge Jitenge, Andhera Aaftaab Mangega, Jinhe Yakeen Nahin Tha, Aartanaad, Rahul Boxer, Nahin Qabul, Voh Bol Uthi and Yeh Dil Mange More Guruji.
This form of theatre has become a vital cultural tool for workers, revolutionaries and social activists. Street theatre addresses topical events and social phenomenon and takes them straight to peoples’ places of work and residence.
Safdar Hashmi
Safdar Hashmi was Janam's Convenor, who was killed in performance in 1989. The attack on Janam took place on 1 January that year, in Sahibabad, an industrial township on the outskirts of Delhi. The play being performed was Halla Bol, in support of workers' demands. This play, and its previous version Chakka Jam, were both done in support of a seven-day strike of industrial workers in November 1988. A spectator, Ram Bahadur, was also killed in the attack. There were massive protests all over the country following this murder and these protests led eventually to the formation of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (Sahmat) in Delhi.
Hashmi, a founder member of Janam, was a brilliant theoretician and practitioner of political theatre, especially street theatre. A versatile personality, he was a playwright, a lyricist, a theatre director, a designer and an organiser. He also wrote for children. His film scripts were much acclaimed. He wrote on various aspects of culture and related issues in journals and newspapers. Safdar was a member of the C.P.I. (M). In recognition of his contribution to the street theatre movement and to the growth of a democratic culture, the University of Calcutta in 1989 conferred on Safdar the degree of D.Litt. posthumously.
Safdar was born to Haneef Hashmi and Qamar Azad on 12 April 1954 in Delhi. He spent his childhood in Aligarh and finished his schooling in Delhi. He did his M.A. in English literature from University of Delhi. After short stints of teaching in the universities of Garhwal, Kashmir and Delhi he worked in the Press Institute of India and then joined as the Press Information Officer of the Govt. of West Bengal in Delhi. In 1984 he gave up his job to work full-time as a political cultural activist. In 1980, Habib Tanvir directed the play Moti Ram ka Satyagraha for Janam.