I had actually heard of SAHMAT first, because the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust organised a cultural programme on the first day of every year. Through Halla Bol: The Death and Life of Safdar Hashmi, his colleague and friend Sudhanva Deshpande has brought to painful life the gentleness, good cheer, wide sweep of affection, and especial mix of talent, camaraderie and commitment to human values that Safdar was made of. So it was that, in 1973, 19-year-old Safdar and his friends banded together and formed a new group, Janam. Image courtesy: Jana Natya Manch Safdar Hashmi dreamed, among other things, of a performance space that was accessible to the working classes. The book does interweave personal anecdotes with the economic and political context for the kind of theatre Janam was doing.

Source: Huffington Post February 01, 2020 09:45 UTC