On January 1, 1989, a group of street theater performers were midway through a play called Halla Bol (“Raise Your Voice”) in Sahibabad, on the outskirts of Delhi. The play, about the exploitation of workers, was being performed for factory laborers. Then a group of political thugs attacked.
Safdar Hashmi, the 34-year-old playwright, director, and actor leading the performance, was brutally beaten. He died the next day in hospital. But what happened after his death would change the landscape of Indian theater and political activism forever.
The Performance That Could Not Be Stopped
The day after Safdar Hashmi died, his wife Moloyashree and the surviving members of Jan Natya Manch (People’s Theater Front) returned to the exact same spot in Sahibabad. In an act of extraordinary courage, they completed the performance of Halla Bol. The message was clear: the voice of the people cannot be silenced by violence.
Who Was Safdar Hashmi?
Born in 1954, Safdar Hashmi was a Communist activist, playwright, director, actor, and poet who believed that theater belonged in the streets, not behind ticketed doors. He co-founded Jan Natya Manch (JANAM) in 1973 and spent his career creating plays that addressed workers’ rights, communalism, and social justice.
His plays were simple, direct, and powerful. They needed no stage, no lights, no tickets. They were performed in factory gates, at bus stops, in market squares — wherever working people gathered.
Legacy
After his death, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) was established, becoming one of India’s most important cultural organizations advocating for artistic freedom and secularism. The spot where he was killed was renamed Safdar Hashmi Marg. And Jan Natya Manch continues performing to this day — making it one of the longest-running street theater groups in the world.
Safdar Hashmi proved that theater is not just entertainment. It is an act of resistance, a tool for justice, and sometimes, an act of sacrifice.