Theater of Deschooling:

Safdar Hashmi’s Conscientization Theater

Abstract

Safdar Hashmi’s oppositional theateris aimed at dismantling the caste, class, and gender-ridden establishment. It explores a strategic way for the establishment of a society that is free of any biases. In this struggle, Hashmi, as a theater activist with a political purpose, uses theater as his weapon. A communist with an aesthetic bent of mind and an artist who took his theater to the masses, Safdar was the co-founder of the militant political theater oJ’ protest, Jana Natya Manch. His commitment to giving vent to the aspirations of the toiling masses gave his performance and writing a sense of urgency and the need to act purposefully. He proceeded with this fight for justice against exploitations and discriminations from a left leaning point of view. This paper explores Safdar Hashmi’s use of theater to mobilize the public conscience.