For Jawaid Danish all the world’s a stage

It is early in the summer of much madness and little order that Jawaid Danish has chosen to be in Delhi as part of his return-to-roots programme. Now based in Toronto, where he launched Rang Manch, Danish is here to talk about his new book, Parindon ki hangami sabha, that aims at increasing environmental awareness among the young. Well known for his dastangoi performances, Jawaid is also involved in meaningful theatre through which he has brought to stage the angst of migrants to the West.
As Jawaid flew to Kolkata before going across to Dushanbe, one had to wait for a suitable hour to get his responses to a few questions about his books, his plays and of course, the contours of Rang Manch in India and abroad.
Excerpts:

What’s the purpose of your India and trans-India tour?

Travelling is my passion. Around two decades ago, Urdu poets and intellectuals were invited to participate in Canadian literary events. Now, I take Urdu and my Dastangoi performances across the globe. I have been invited by Tajik National University, Dushanbe, through Indian Embassy, for a drama workshop. I am also releasing Parindon ki Hangami Sabha, published by National Book Trust.
My plays are being translated into Tajik by Nooralieva Shirin Mah of Tajik National University. I am also visiting Tashkent University to present my paper on ‘Drama Therapy’ and my play on autism. As far as Delhi is concerned, I have been invited by Centre of Persian & Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University to present my play, Han mera razi autistic hai, a serious solo on autism. This play has been translated into Persian, Arabic, Bengali, English and German. It is said that this is the first play on autism in Urdu.

How did you get into theatre, and end up writing ‘Awargi’?

My father Mohammed Hanif, an honest government officer, breathed his last in a rental apartment in Kolkata, while his subordinates had luxuries of life. I promised myself that I will never end up in any government job. I nurtured my travelling dreams, which gave birth to Awargi, a travelogue of Europe and America, then later Mazeed Awargi, which was about my travels to Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand.

As a playwright, how do you look at the decline of Urdu in theatre in India?

Urdu and Urdu drama is still alive and healthy on the international scene, though there are challenges on home turf. We need to ask ourselves, how dedicated are we to this cause, how many people go to see a play, etc.

You are the founder of Rang Manch in Canada. How did you land up in Toronto? Was it your love for theatre? And how difficult has it been to sustain Rang Manch there?

After my father’s death, I migrated to Canada to support my family. I have been in Toronto for the past 40 years. Initially, it was quite a struggle as I had to do all sorts of odd jobs. For the first 10 years, I got first-hand experience of immigrant issues, and started writing plays on immigrants such as problems of taxi drivers, cooks, waiters, doctors, poets and even intellectuals. The result was Hijrat ke Tamashey. This gave birth to Rang Manch Canada, a not-for-profit, registered group. Recently, we celebrated its silver jubilee.

Your works have been adapted to television. How fulfilling was the experience?

Chalees Baba Aik Chor is the sequel of ‘Hijrat ke Tamashey’. In Hijrat, I am dealing with the settlement and challenges of new immigrants. In Chalees Baba, they are settled, but after 20 years the challenges are psychological, now there is depression, divorces and single mothers. Among them there is an opportunist class of babas, who tend to cash in on these innocent people. The struggle is never ending. The TV adaptation and even a film, Bada Shayer, Chhota Aadmi, with local actors was not a bad venture.

‘Hijrat ke tamashe’ has been critically acclaimed. Isn’t it a rare literary work to talk of hijrat (migration) in a non-religious way?

It was first published in Lahore in 1990 but it hardly came up in discussions. Then Dr. Mohammed Hasan of JNU put a stamp that this is the first book of plays on migration. Then came all the applause and even the prestigious Ghalib award. The fact is in Urdu Diasporic Literature, this is the only book of plays. In 2013, an M.Phil was done in Delhi University, now two research works are in progress in two Indian universities. These plays have been translated into English, Hindi, French, German, Persian, Arabic, Tajik and Bengali.