Halla Bol : The Death and Life of Safdar Hashmi

Sudhanva Despande

Book Launch

Thursday, 5th March 2020

Safdar Hashmi was a playwright and director, best known for his work with stirring political street theatre. In fact, he was killed on January 1,1989 while performing the street play, Halla Bol (Raise Your Voice!) by a gang of political goons. Three days later, his wife Moloyshree went with Hashmi’s Janam troupe to the location of the murder, and in a singular act of bravery, completed the performance.

Literature Live! will launch a book on his life, appropriately titled Halla Bol: The Death and Life of Safdar Hashmi by Sudhanva Deshpande, on Thursday, March 5 at 6.30 PM at NCPA’s Experimental Theatre. At the launch, Sameera Iyengar will be in conversation with Naseeruddin Shah, Moloyashree Hashmi and the author. There will also be a presentation of Jana Natya Manch’s classic play Machine.

Seating, as usual, is on a first come, first served basis, so do come early.

Participants

Sudhanva Despande

Sudhanva Deshpande is a theatre director and actor. He joined Jana Natya Manch in 1987, and has acted in over 4000 performances of over 80 plays.

Sameera Iyengar

Sameera Iyengar is co-founder of Junoon, an organisation that believes that living with the arts is a fundamental right, and works to make this a possibility for people across India. … Sameera is also a founding member of the India Theatre Forum (ITF) in 2006, and remained a core member till 2014.

Naseeruddin Shah

Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1949) is an Indian film and stage actor and director in the Hindi language film industry. He is considered among the finest actors of India and is a prominent figure in Indian parallel cinema.

Moloyashree Hashmi

Moloyashree Hashmi is India’s most experienced street theatre actor, with over 7,000 performances to her credit over four decades. She is President of Jana Natya Manch.