At the age of 10, he had to leave Karachi in the wake of the Partition. As he grew up in a strange environment, he struggled to discover his identity rooted in the culture and history of Sindh. He picked up a pen and started retelling the history of Sindh and its culture through various literary genres, especially drama. Today, at the age of 74, Mohan Gehani is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Sindhi for the year 2011. His collection of plays titled ‘Ta Khwaaban Jo Chha Theendo’ reflects the mastery of the playwright in dealing with sensitive issues with ease. The citation lauds Gehani’s plays for their remarkable stageability with “no compromise in the literary values”. Sahitya Akademi considered his work as an “exemplary work in Indian drama in Sindhi”. Based in Bhopal, he was in Delhi recently to receive his award. Realising the importance of the study of history as a bridge between the past and the present, he requested Sindhi scholars to write a history book, but nobody came forward.
“I wrote myself a book titled ‘Brief Introduction of History of Sindh’.” The book was well received and he received an award from the Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language and Literature for his pioneering effort. Retelling history is his passion to discover cultural identity to establish bond through shared culture. He was sorry to find that Sindhi was not part of Indian languages. He became an active participant in the movement to include Sindhi in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution that was mostly led by Sindhi writers and intellectuals.
And he decided to use theatre as a vehicle to discover Sindhi cultural identity. “It is in this background that my book ‘Ta Khwaaban Jo Chha Theendo’ has been written.” His ‘Sindhu Dhara’ captures glorious episodes from the history of Sindh.
A multimedia production, it combines dance, music, drama and documentary. According to him, this has been a grand theatrical spectacle which was directed by well-known dancer Anila Sunder and had a number of shows well received by the audience.
Anila Sunder directed another play by him in a balletic style with feminist point of view, severely indicting of female infanticide.
One of his plays in the same style was staged by Ashok Bulani. As a playwright, he writes basically for the stage to convey his message to wider audience. In ‘King Dahir’, he interprets the cause of the defeat of King Dahir at the hands of Mohammad bin Qasim in 712 to the betrayal of the courtiers of the king rather than the bravery of the forces of Mohammad bin Qasim.
The king was the victim of the treachery of his own chieftains who thought that Arabs would return after their victory, leaving Sindh for them to rule. The play illustrates that it was not the war to spread Islam, but the war of Arab expansionism.
In one of his one-act plays, he focuses on the struggle of theatre artistes who are working in great hardship to realise their dreams and passions for the theatre at a time when there are blatant efforts at commodification of the arts.
FIRST SINDHI DRAMA: Talking about the history of Sindhi drama and theatre, he says the first drama in Sindhi was written by Mirza Qadir Beg in 1880. Most of the plays were based on social issues. Sindhi people love songs and music inspired by Sufi tradition. In the earlier plays, at times, 40 songs were included. Gradually, Sindhi stage developed adapting modern theatrical techniques and sensibility. After the Partition, for more than a decade in India, Sindhi theatre was almost forgotten. But as people settled and became keenly aware of the loss of their identity, theatre started resurfacing slowly.
“Significant plays from different regional languages were translated into Sindhi and staged in various cities. Theatre veterans of Sindhi theatre like Kishan Khatwani, who studied at Shantiniketan, and Lakhmi Khilani, who was in Kolkata, contributed to reflect Sindhi culture through theatre. Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmadabad and Bhopal, where Sindhis are in a sizeable number, became centres of our theatrical activities,” he says. Asked to comment on the dominance of farce on the Sindhi stage in Delhi and other cities, he says, “Initially, it was an escapist fare for the people traumatised by the Partition and the miseries of living in refugee camps, and now the community prefers to be entrepreneur and becoming prosperous; it is not interested in serious theatre, but there are Sindhi audiences who want to watch serious and meaningful theatre. But there is a danger for the future of the Sindhi language as the new generation is more inclined towards English, and my language is facing near extinction.”
When asked if there is any exchange of books being written in India and in Sindh, he said, “In Sindh, a great body of literature is being produced and read. We are in touch with them. There is exchange of works; we interact on various occasions. I myself visited Sindh in 1984. I was emotionally overwhelmed to be received with great affection not only by fellow writers, but also by the present owner of the house I was born and where I spent my childhood.”
