Indian Theatre

Theatre in India is one of the oldest performing traditions in the world. It blends music, dance and acting into a single narrative art. The excavated ruins at the Sitabenga and Jogimara caves (in present-day Chhattisgarh) are believed by many to be among the world's oldest amphitheatres, a sign of how deep this tradition runs. Indian drama has passed through a codified classical stage, hundreds of living regional folk forms, and the modern proscenium theatre of the colonial and post-independence eras. Throughout, it has continuously reinvented itself while keeping its roots in storytelling.

Classical Sanskrit theatre is the codified, scripture-based dramatic tradition that flourished in ancient India and was governed by a formal treatise on stagecraft.

Its foundational text is the Natya Shastra, attributed to the sage Bharata Muni. It was composed roughly between 200 BC and 200 AD and is the first formal treatise on dramaturgy (the art and craft of dramatic composition). By legend, Brahma created the Natya Veda for the pastime of the gods, drawing elements from the four Vedas. The Natya Shastra describes ten types of play, ranging from a one-act to a ten-act drama.

The Sanskrit word for drama, nataka, comes from the root nata, meaning "a dancer". This is a reminder that recitation, dance and music were always integral to the form. Plays in ancient India were of two broad kinds:

• Lokadharmi: realistic depictions of everyday life.
• Natyadharmi: conventional, stylised plays with heavy symbolism.

Major playwrights and their plays

• Ashvaghosha: wrote Sariputraprakarana, a nine-act play considered the first known example of classical Sanskrit drama.
• Bhasa: composed thirteen plays around the 4th–5th century BC.
• Sudraka: author of Mricchakatika ("The Little Clay Cart"). He was the first to introduce real conflict and a distinct antagonist alongside the hero and heroine.
• Kalidasa: the most celebrated Sanskrit dramatist, famous for the eternal conflict of desire versus duty. His three plays are Malavikagnimitra, Vikramorvashi and Abhijnanashakuntalam (Shakuntalam).
• Bhavabhuti: wrote Uttararamacharita and Mahaviracharita.
• Visakhadatta: author of the political drama Mudrarakshasa.
• Harshavardhana: the emperor-playwright who wrote Ratnavali.

Conventions of the classical play

Sanskrit drama followed rigid rules that distinguished it sharply from Greek theatre:

• Plays were generally of four to seven acts.
• They always had happy endings: the hero wins or survives, and pure tragedy was almost never portrayed.
• The protagonist was male and always achieved the object of his desire by the end.
• Each play had a clear opening, progression, development, pause and conclusion.
• Performances opened with pre-play rituals (purva-raga), mostly behind the curtain. After this, the Sutradhar (the stage manager and director, dressed in white) worshipped the deity, summoned the leading lady, announced the setting and introduced the playwright.
• The theatre could seat about four hundred persons. Stages were two-storeyed: the upper floor represented the celestial sphere and the lower the terrestrial. Curtains were used freely, but masks were not.

Stock characters

Characters were classified into three main types:

• Nayaka: the hero, played by men, of personality types such as Lalita (kind-hearted), Shanta (calm) and Uddhata (arrogant). A villainous hero or antagonist was the Pratinayaka (for example Ravana or Duryodhana).
• Nayika: the heroine, played by women, who could be a queen, a friend, a courtesan (ganika) or a divine lady (divya).
• Vidusaka: the clown, a noble and good-hearted figure. He was usually the hero's friend and questioned social norms through satire. Notably, the Vidusaka spoke in Prakrit while the others spoke in Sanskrit.

Reasons for decline

• Dramatists drifted towards pure poetry, and lyrical writing overtook dramatic works.
• The rigid orthodoxy of the form stifled new playwrights, who moved to other styles.
• As Sanskrit grew more ornate, it lost touch with the masses and became confined to religion and the Brahmin elite. Pali and Prakrit took its place.
• With the advent of Muslim rulers, patronage shifted toward dance and music. Sanskrit theatre receded.

Koodiyattam: the oldest surviving form

Koodiyattam (Koothiyattam) is India's oldest continuing theatre form, surviving in Kerala since about the 10th century AD. It adheres completely to the Natya Shastra and was traditionally the privilege of the Chakyar and Nambiar castes. It is performed in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Malayalam. The Mizhavu and Edakka drums provide music. Each character opens with the Nirvahana, a recollection of past events. After this, the story unfolds slowly with social and philosophical commentary. Margi Madhu Chakyar is a leading exponent. Koodiyattam was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

Folk theatre is the broad family of rural, regional dramatic forms that reflect local customs, beliefs and lifestyles. Where Sanskrit theatre was urban and sophisticated, folk theatre carried a rustic flavour. Most surviving forms emerged around the 15th–16th century AD with devotional themes. They later turned to love ballads and tales of local heroes. After independence, folk theatre became a tool for spreading social messages. Folk theatre is usually grouped into three categories.

Ritual theatre (devotional forms born of the Bhakti movement):

• Ankia Nat: a one-act opera of Assam, begun by the Vaishnava saint Shankaradeva and his disciple Madhavadeva in the 16th century. It depicts the life of Krishna. The Sutradhar is backed by the Gayan-Bayan musicians and masks are used for special expressions.
• Kala: an ancient Vaishnavite form centred on the incarnations of Vishnu. Its branches include Dashavatar Kala, Gopal Kala and Gaulan Kala.
• Ramlila: a UP enactment of the Ramayana before Dussehra, performed by male actors who also play Sita.
• Raslila: a dance-drama of the youthful love of Radha and Krishna, popular in the Braj/Gujarat region.
• Bhuta: worship of dead ancestors ("spirit") in the Kannada districts of Karnataka.
• Ramman: a ritual theatre of the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, dedicated to Bhumiyal Devta. The Bhandari caste wear a sacred Narasimha mask. It is on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Theatres of entertainment (secular forms of love, valour and humour):

• Bhavai: folk theatre of Gujarat and Rajasthan (Kutch and Kathiawar), using dance to string together short romantic plays called Vesha. Instruments include the Bhungal, and the Sutradhar is called Nayaka.
• Daskathia: an Odisha form with two narrators, Gayaka and Palia, set to a wooden instrument called the kathia.
• Garodas: picture-storytelling of the Garoda community of Gujarat.
• Jatra: an open-air theatre of Eastern India (Bengal), initiated by the Vaishnava saint Sri Chaitanya to spread Krishna's teachings. Later variants include Rama Jatra and Chandi Jatra. Odisha has its own street form called Sahi Jatra.
• Kariyila: a night-long open-air theatre of the Himachal Pradesh foothills.
• Maach: folk theatre of the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. It originated in Ujjain in the 17th century. Dialogues are couplets called Rangat Dohas.
• Nautanki: an offshoot of Swang and the most popular theatre of North India, mentioned in Abul Fazl's Ain-e-Akbari. Dialogues are lyrical and set to a drum called the Nagara. Later schools developed at Kanpur and Lucknow.
• Oja-Pali: a narrative form of Assam tied to the serpent goddess Manasa, with the Oja as narrator and Palis as chorus.
• Powada: Maharashtrian operatic ballads of valour. The form was born from a play praising Shivaji after he killed Afzal Khan. They are sung by Gondhalis and Shahirs.
• Swang: musical dramas of Punjab and Haryana, sung to the ektara, harmonium, sarangi, dholak and khartal.
• Tamasha: folk theatre of Maharashtra known for humour, in which female actors even play the male roles, accompanied by Lavani songs.
• Villu Pattu: "bow-song" musical theatre of the Deccan, narrating the Ramayana on a bow-shaped instrument.
• Bhand Pather: a secular folk theatre of Jammu and Kashmir, full of social satire, performed by Muslims.
• Bhaona: a presentation of Ankia Nat on Assam's Majuli island, spreading Vaishnavite moral messages.
• Dashavatar: drama of the Konkan region (Sindhudurg in Maharashtra and North Goa) honouring the ten incarnations of Vishnu, in two parts (poorva-ranga and uttara-ranga).
• Naqal (Bhand): mimicry of Punjab, performed by two artists called Behroopiya or Naqalchi, using wit to convey social messages.

Theatres of South India (forms that grew as Sanskrit theatre declined in the north around the 8th century AD, emphasising dance over music):

• Yakshagana: perhaps the oldest, living on in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It originated in the courts of the Vijayanagara empire and was performed by the Jakkula Varu community. Its variants include Lalita (Maharashtra) and Bhavai (Gujarat).
• Burra Katha: a dance-drama of Andhra Pradesh named after the Burra percussion instrument, with a narrator and two vanthas.
• Pagati Veshaalu: a role-playing tradition of the Telangana region built around a principal vesham (disguise).
• Bayalata: an open-air theatre of Karnataka with five types (Dasarat, Sannata, Doddata, Parijata and Yakshagana), based on Radha–Krishna stories.
• Tal-Maddale: considered the predecessor of Yakshagana. It is narrated seated by a Bhagavata with no costume or dance (Tal is a cymbal, Maddale a drum).
• Theyyam: an open-air ritual theatre of Kerala (akin to Karnataka's Bhuta Kola), honouring ancestors and gods with elaborate headgear and costumes.
• Krishna Attam (Krishnanattam): a Kerala dance-drama from the mid-17th century, based on the Krishna Geethi, narrating Krishna's life over eight consecutive nights.
• Kuruvanji: a Tamil dance-ballet about 300 years old, first composed by Thirukutarajappa Kaviyar. It centres on a love-struck heroine whose fate is told by a "fortune-teller." Bharatanatyam is its principal dance.

A puppet is a figure brought to life by a hidden performer, the puppeteer, who moves it to act out a story. Puppetry is one of the oldest forms of entertainment in India, valued both for amusement and for teaching. Its roots run deep:

• Excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro yielded puppets with sockets attached, hinting that the art existed in the Indus Valley.
• References to marionette theatre appear around 500 BC.
• The oldest written reference is in the Tamil classic Silappadikaram (1st–2nd century BC).

The form also carried philosophical weight. In the Bhagwata, a devotional Hindu scripture, God is described as a puppeteer controlling the universe with three strings: Satta, Raja and Tama. The Sutradhar of Indian theatre literally means the "holder of strings". Indian puppetry drew on painting, sculpture, music, dance and drama. It developed distinct regional traditions, classified into four broad types: string, shadow, rod and glove.

String puppets, also called marionettes, are figures worked from above by strings. They have a strong presence in Indian tradition. Typically:

• They are 8–9 inch miniature figures chiselled out of wood.
• Oil colour paints the skin and adds eyes, lips and nose.
• Wooden pipes form the limbs, and the body is dressed in colourful stitched costume with miniature jewellery.
• Strings are tied to the hands, head and back, and the puppeteer controls these to animate the figure.

The leading regional forms are:

• Kathputli (Rajasthan): the name joins kath (wood) and putli (doll). The puppets wear bright Rajasthani dress and the show is set to dramatic folk music. Their distinctive feature is the absence of legs: the strings are tied directly to the puppeteer's fingers.
• Kundhei (Odisha): made of light wood and dressed in long flowing skirts. They have more joints, giving the puppeteer greater flexibility. The strings run to a triangular prop. The form shows a marked influence of Odissi dance.
• Gombeyatta (Karnataka): styled on the characters of Yakshagana theatre. A unique feature is that more than one puppeteer manipulates the puppets together.
• Bommalattam (Tamil Nadu): combines features of rod and string puppetry. The strings hang from an iron ring worn on the puppeteer's head. These are the largest and heaviest marionettes in India. Some reach 4.5 ft tall and 10 kg in weight. A performance moves through four stages: Vinayak Puja, Komali, Amanattam and Pusenkanattam.

Shadow puppets are flat figures whose silhouettes are thrown onto a screen. India has a rich, surviving tradition of this form. Its features are:

• The puppets are flat figures cut out of leather.
• They are painted identically on both sides.
• They are pressed against a white screen with light behind, so the figure casts a shadow that the audience watches.

The main regional forms are:

• Togalu Gombeyatta (Karnataka): its puppets vary in size by social status: kings and religious figures are large, while commoners and servants are small.
• Ravanchhaya (Odisha): the most theatrical of the shadow forms. Puppets are made of deer skin and strike bold dramatic postures. They have no joints, which makes the art especially demanding. It also uses non-human puppets such as trees and animals. This produces a lyrical, sensitive narration.
• Tholu Bommalata (Andhra Pradesh): accompanied by classical music and themed on the epics and Puranas. The puppets are large and coloured on both sides.

Rod puppets are larger relatives of the glove puppet, supported and moved by rods that the puppeteer works from behind a screen. They are mainly popular in eastern India. The leading forms are:

• Yampuri (Bihar): made of wood and carved from a single piece without joints, then painted and dressed in bright colours.
• Putul Nachh (Bengal–Odisha–Assam region): figures stand 3–4 ft high and are dressed like characters of Jatra folk theatre. They usually have three joints (neck and shoulders). Each puppeteer controls one puppet by a rod tied to the waist and moves behind a high curtain. A troupe of three or four musicians plays harmonium, cymbals and tabla.

Glove puppets (also called sleeve, hand or palm puppets) are small figures with a head and arms wearing a long flowing skirt. They are made of cloth or wood (sometimes paper). The puppeteer wears the puppet like a glove:

• The index finger moves the head.
• The thumb and middle finger move the two hands, giving the limp figure life and expression.

Glove puppetry is popular across India, usually performed to the rhythmic beat of a drum or dholak. The best-known form is:

• Pavakoothu (Kerala): originated around the 18th century AD. The puppets carry colourful headgear, feathers and face paint. These reveal a strong influence of Kathakali dance. The plays draw on the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Modern Indian theatre is the post-medieval stage that took shape during the colonial era, fusing Western dramatic technique with Indian themes.

The colonial proscenium stage

• Translations of ancient Sanskrit texts and Western classics, including the works of Shakespeare and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, gave fresh impetus to drama.
• The growth of cities such as Calcutta and Madras created demand for new entertainment. The Western proscenium style (a framed stage viewed from the front) emerged in the 18th–19th centuries.
• Early Calcutta playhouses included the Belgachia Natyashala and Shobhabazar Natyashala.
• Theatre became commercialised (paid viewership), and common themes were social evils such as dowry, caste and religious hypocrisy.
• Alarmed by its political edge, the British passed the Dramatic Performances Act of 1876.

Parsi theatre

• Parsi theatre flourished in western India from the 1850s to the 1920s. It staged plays in Gujarati and Marathi with colourful backdrops, music, romance and melodrama. From the 1930s, with the rise of cinema, many Parsi producers moved into filmmaking.

Regional and post-independence theatre

• Rabindranath Tagore: a celebrated playwright. His first play (Valmiki Pratibha) was written at twenty. His works include Raktakarabi (Red Oleanders), Chitrangada and Post Office. Other Bengali figures include Girish Chandra Ghosh and Dinabandhu Mitra (Nildarpan).
• Prithvi Theatre: a travelling company founded in 1942 by Prithviraj Kapoor, with a permanent Mumbai theatre opened in 1978.
• Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA): formed in 1943 as the cultural wing of the Communist Party. Associated names include Balraj Sahni, Utpal Dutt and Ritwik Ghatak.
• Kalakshetra Manipur: founded by Heisnam Kanhailal in 1969. Ratan Thiyam established the Chorus Repertory Theatre in 1976.
• Institutions: the Sangeet Natak Akademi (1952) for the performing arts, and the National School of Drama under Ebrahim Alkazi. Both nurtured generations of theatre talent.
• Leading modern playwrights and directors: Girish Karnad, Habib Tanvir, Vijay Tendulkar (author of Ghashiram Kotwal), Badal Sarkar, Mohan Rakesh, Vijaya Mehta, Dharamvir Bharati, Chandrashekhar Kambar and B. V. Karanth. K. V. Subbanna founded the acclaimed NINASAM group. He won the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

From the 1930s onward, the stage fed directly into the screen. India now has one of the largest film industries in the world. It produces films in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bhojpuri and many other languages. The story of how it grew is a favourite source of exam questions. The names, films and dates below are worth knowing well.

Cinema (motion pictures, or "moving images") first reached India through the Lumiere Brothers. They were French inventors of the Cinematograph, the early camera-projector. They exhibited six soundless short films in Bombay in 1896.

The earliest Indian pioneers were:

• Harishchandra Bhatvadekar (Save Dada): the first Indian to make a motion picture, producing two short films in 1899.
• Hiralal Sen: known for the picture Indian Life and Scenes (1903).
• Dadasaheb Phalke: produced Raja Harishchandra in 1913, the first indigenous Indian feature film. He is honoured as the Father of Indian Cinema and also made the first box-office hit, Lanka Dahan (1917).

The first cinema houses followed the demand for permanent screenings:

• Major Warwick set up the first cinema house in Madras (Chennai) around 1900.
• Jamshedjee Madan opened the Elphinstone Picture House in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1907.

The era of silent films (1910s–1920s). These films were called silent, but they were screened with live music on the sarangi, tabla, harmonium and violin. Fatima Begum became the first Indian woman to produce and direct a film, Bulbul-e-Parastan (1926). India's first censorship controversy came over Bhakta Vidhur, banned in Madras in 1921.

The epoch of talkies. The first Indian talking film was Alam Ara (1931). It was directed by Ardeshir Irani for the Imperial Film Company and screened at Majestic Cinema, Bombay. Big banners such as Bombay Talkies, New Theatres and Prabhat emerged and brought in the studio system. It was first used in P. C. Barua's Devdas (1935). The RK Films studio was founded by the Kapoor family in 1948.

Coming of age (1950s). This decade saw the rise of film stars and the "trinity" of Hindi cinema, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor. Key milestones:

• The first International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was held in Bombay in 1952.
• The first technicolour (colour) film, Jhansi Ki Rani, was made by Sohrab Modi in 1953.
• Do Bigha Zameen by Bimal Roy was among the first Indian films to win an award abroad.
• The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) was set up at Pune in 1960 to train film professionals.
• After Phalke's death in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime achievement was instituted in his honour.

Later phases. The "Angry Young Man" phase (1970–80) centred on rags-to-riches stories. Amitabh Bachchan was its face, in films like Zanjeer and Sholay. (Sholay was the first Indian film made on the 70 mm scale.) The romantic phase (1980–2000) brought family dramas. Then came Liberalisation, Globalisation and Privatisation (LPG) in the 1990s, along with the second triumvirate: the Khans (Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir). LPG also brought new technology. India's first 3D film was My Dear Kuttichatan (Malayalam), and the Dolby sound system arrived with 1942: A Love Story.

Parallel cinema. Alongside mainstream films ran a parallel (or "alternate") cinema. These were serious, realistic films made for artistic merit rather than commercial success. The movement began with Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome (1969). Its leading figures were:

• Satyajit Ray: maker of the Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apur Sansar). He won global acclaim, the Bharat Ratna (1992) and an honorary Oscar.
• Ritwik Ghatak: who portrayed lower-middle-class struggles in Nagarik and Meghe Dhaka Tara.
• Meera Nair: whose Salaam Bombay won an award at Cannes in 1989.

South Indian cinema refers collectively to the five film industries of South India:

• Tamil: strong domestic and overseas (diaspora) audiences.
• Telugu: one of the two biggest South Indian industries, famous for mythological films.
• Kannada: caters mostly to domestic audiences.
• Malayalam: known for realistic cinema and a sizeable diaspora audience.
• Tulu: the cinema of coastal Karnataka.

By 2010 statistics, 723 films were produced in South Indian languages. That was more than the 588 produced in all other Indian languages combined. The Telugu and Tamil industries are the largest among them.

South Indian cinema draws heavily on classics of literature, mythology and folklore:

• Telugu cinema is famous for mythological films based on the Ramayana and Mahabharata. N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) played Krishna in 17 films before becoming a political leader.
• Tamil cinema produced classics such as Tiruvilaiyadal, in which Shivaji Ganeshan played Shiva.
• Kannada cinema made successful mythologicals like Babruvahana, starring the legendary actor Rajkumar.

Films on socio-economic issues (corruption, unemployment, dowry, violence against women) form a major part of the region's output. In the 1940s–60s, films also carried strong political messages. Notable South Indian superstars include:

• M. G. Ramachandran (MGR) and N. T. Rama Rao: both became Chief Ministers.
• Shivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesan: Tamil cinema legends.
• Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan: Kannada icons.
• Prem Nazir and Mohanlal / Mammootty: Malayalam stalwarts.
• Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu and Joseph Vijay: among later superstars.

Every film shown publicly in India must be certified before release. This system rests on the Cinematograph Act, 1952. The Government of India passed this Act to set up the body that certifies films and decides who may watch them.

The certifying body is the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), popularly called the "Censor Board":

• It was first set up in 1950 as the Central Board of Film Censors. It was renamed under the 1952 Act.
• It works under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• Its head office is in Mumbai, with regional offices in cities such as Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Cuttack, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.
• It has a Chairman and between twelve and twenty-five members. All are appointed by the Central Government.

Certificate categories. The original Act provided two categories. The Cinematograph (Certification) Rules of 1983 added two more categories:

• U, Universal: suitable for unrestricted public exhibition (all ages).
• A, Adults only: restricted to adult audiences.
• UA: Unrestricted public exhibition, but with parental guidance for children under 12.
• S: restricted to a specialised audience, such as doctors or engineers.

Other key features of the system:

• Examining and Revising Committees: two tiers that review a film. If a filmmaker disagrees with the first tier's decision, they can approach the second tier.
• Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT): set up under Section 5D of the Act to hear appeals against CBFC decisions.
• Foreign and dubbed films also need CBFC certification. A film dubbed into another language needs a fresh certificate.
• Doordarshan films and TV programmes are exceptions that do not need CBFC certification.
• Certification is a Central subject. However, enforcement of censorship within each state lies with the State governments.

Reform. In 2016 the Shyam Benegal Committee recommended that the CBFC should only categorise films by audience age and maturity. It should not act as a censor. The committee also suggested finer sub-categories such as UA12+ and UA15+.