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Bail for Union Carbide chief challenged

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NK SINGH Bhopal: A local lawyer has moved the court seeking cancellation of the absolute bail granted to Mr. Warren Ander son, chairman of the Union Carbide Corporation, whose Bhopal pesticide plant killed over 2,000 persons last December. Mr. Anderson, who was arrested here in a dramatic manner on December 7 on several charges including the non-bailable Section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), was released in an even more dramatic manner and later secretly whisked away to Delhi in a state aircraft. The local lawyer, Mr. Quamerud-din Quamer, has contended in his petition to the district and sessions judge of Bhopal, Mr. V. S. Yadav, that the police had neither authority nor jurisdiction to release an accused involved in a heinous crime of mass slaughter. If Mr. Quamer's petition succeeds, it may lead to several complications, including diplomatic problems. The United States Government had not taken kindly to the arrest of the head of one of its most powerful mul...

Habib Tanvir: A Living Leged

NK SINGH


BHOPAL, once described by Indira Gandhi as the cultural capital of the country, on Tuesday night lived up to its reputation. It paid a fitting tribute a Habib Tanvir, one of the most important theatre personalities of our times – a man who has become a legend in his lifetime, and, more importantly for the people of Bhopal, who has made the city home for himself and his equally legendary Naya Theatre.

            Habib Tanvir’s Charandas Chor, enacted on Tuesday night at Bharat Bhavan, not only drew a packed house, but the audience turned up in such a large number that the organizers had to install film screen to telecast the play. Bookings for the play closed 45 minutes before the starting time.

            It is a very old play- 38 years to be exact. It has been enacted several times in Bhopal, as in many part of the world. Yet, as the octogenarian director climbed the stage to greet the audience it was clear that the all-time popular play had not lost anything of the old charm.

            So theatre lovers, including many VIPs, kept sitting in the open courtyard of Bharat Bhavan, where a cinema screen had been hastily put up after organiser saw the large crowd. There was a thunderstorm and many braved elements.

            It was indeed a fitting tribute from a city that has become a legend due to cultural moorings.

Charandas Chor pulls big crowd

NK SINGH

BHARAT Bhavan was chock-a-block with theatre lovers on Tuesday-the concluding day of the Rangadhar Theatre fest. And the draw was Habib Tanvir’s Charandas Chor. 
The crowd was so much that people had to sit outside the auditorium to watch the play.
            
The organisers had rightly anticipated that the audience could not be accommodated in Antrang. And therefore a screen was put up right outside the auditorium to allow theatre buffs to relish the play. This was for the first time, during the 12-day Rangadhar Samaroh, that a screen had to be put up for the crowd.
            
Nearly 400 odd persons in the audience, some sat on the steps in the courtyard, some stood on the terrace outside the Bahirang and yet others squatted at the fountain area, watching the play in pin drop silence.
            
While the visual impact on the screen was good, the aural flow was ‘satisfactory’ as the listeners had to strain their ears to catch the words, which were mostly in Chattisgarhi dialect.
            
And this went on till rain played spoilsport, and lights went off just before the interval. While the packed audience inside the Antarang, sat unfazed, the crowd outside had to move with disappointment writ large on their faces.
            
As the rain continued, albeit mildly, the crowd slowly started dispersing, disappointed for not being able to see the end of the creative masterpiece.
            
“I have seen the play two times earlier but each time the play brings a newness. It’s really sad that I have to go back without seeing the full play.” Said Vandana Soni.
            
Praveen, a college student echoed the same: I had heard so much about the play and wanted to see till the end.
            
Earlier, after being felicitated. Habib Tanvir said the director had a significant role during the making of a play. “But during enactment, the director plays a vanishing act. It’s just a chord between the audience and the artsite.”
            
The play, originally written by Vijaydan Detha, and interpreted as folk play, is a story about a thief who runs around the forces of law and order till he comes up against one force he cannot trounce – his commitment to truth.
            
The play gave a stimulating peep into the social structure. The meticulous use of the stage and the swift change of scenes captivated the audience.
            
“The story has contemporary relevance and I have tried to exploit this aspect of the story to the full. I have written the play with my folk actors, all of them improvisers, rather than with a pen,” Habib Tanvir told HT.
           
Chaitram Yadav as Charandas gave an amazing performance. But the others in the cast crew also left an indelible mark. A special mention must be made of the folk songs and dances that all though the play.
            
A great finale to the fest.

Published in Hindustan Times, 8 April 2009

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