Habib Tanvir (1 September 1923 – 8 June 2009) was one of the most popular Indian Urdu and Hindi playwrights, theatre director, poet and actor. He was the writer of plays such as Agra Bazar (1954) and Charandas Chor (1975). A pioneer in Urdu and Hindi theatre, he was most known for his work with Chhattisgarhi tribals, at the Naya Theatre, a theatre company he founded in 1959 in Bhopal.
For him, true “theatre of the people” existed in the villages, which he strived to bring to the urban “educated”, employing both folk performers as actors alongside urban actors.
In 2010, at the 12th Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the annual theatre festival of National School of Drama, Delhi, a tribute exhibition dedicated to the life, works and theatre of Habib Tanvir was displayed.
He had a sense of creativity, a sincere positivity, and his depiction of real roots made him a legend of contemporary Indian theatre. He touched the hearts of many people even in an era that didn’t have technology. Without promotion and marketing, he made a firm place in the theatre industry. His simplicity and ground reality ideas will always be in our hearts.
