Kanhailal - A sui generis

Free Thinker *

Heisnam Kanhailal - Padmashree Recipient (Theatre) :: July 2009

Writing obituaries is quite remorseful. But sometimes it compels me to jot down a few words for those who made a dramatic impact in our milieu. Oja Kanhailal was a unique dramatist who dramatically dramatize the world of drama in his own dramatizing style using the native tools.

He loved theatre more than anything else. I came to know from the press that Oja Kanhailal had passed away. It reminds me of a journey from Imphal to New Delhi which I  undertook by chance with Oja Kanhailal in the recent past.

Along the journey I had a long chat with the genius. During the journey I had ample opportunity to interact with him and also to understand him. Along the journey most of the time I did the talking and he gave me brief replies; in a way it was a kind of a dialogue between a learned and a laity. He was perhaps not annoyed with my irritating but innocuous queries.

Oja Kanhailal belonged to a modest family but it didn’t hinder him to pursue his passion. As a student he started as a drama artist in the 60s. Ultimately his passion has become his profession.

Today the world of drama recognises him as an experimentalist. I came to know from him that he was going to receive a prestigious award . So he was in a good mood and started sharing his thoughts freely with me.  With a heavy heart he told me that artists and those associated with drama are always in  distress because of poor funding and scanty sponsors and patronage.

The story is more or less the same almost every where in the world. He sadly admitted that “today theatre is an art form which is struggling for survival”. I told him truthfully that I had seen only a few dramas produced and directed by him.

In all his productions one common thing which was uniquely visible remained the indigenous strain; in terms of attire, music, gestures and oral sounds. His drama is categorically categorized as experimental. Some experts have maintained that  his dramas are largely experimental but quite  unconventional in style and form.

Gestures, movements, dialogue, expressions are mainly indigenous. Oja Kanhailal learnt many things from late GC Tongbra, one of the pioneers of modern Manipuri Drama. Though he was influenced by Tongbra in his formative period he had developed his own genre in later years. He perhaps did not believe in the traditional style and so he tried to formulate a novel form of theatre based on trial and error.

He kept thinking and innovating. He always tried to exploit all body parts & organs for effective expression and communication. He tried to connect his ideas with the audience.

Drama goers will never forget some of his well known plays namely “Pebet”, “Dak Ghar”, “Thambal”, “Draupati”, “Tamna Lai” and so on. Sometimes it becomes difficult to understand the underlying theme of his drama.

Common spectators often fail to comprehend  the message of his production. Even the experts tend to differ amongst themselves vis-à-vis the interpretation of his plays; there lies the beauty of his plays. In a lighter vein I told him that all the great artists of the world normally did everything themselves including Kanhailal.

I cited the example of Charles Chaplin. Mr Chaplin himself was the producer, director, script-writer, and protagonist of most of his films. Oja Kanhailal in a very modest tone replied, “please don’t compare me with the world’s greatest artist of all times, he was a comedian par excellence; superficially what he did was comedy to the world but in profundity it was tragedy”.

I am not an expert in theatre and dramatics but as an audience  I know that the master had his own mesmerizing style; his deployment of indigenous tools impressed the natives and foreigners alike.

Some experts in the field might want to call him the master of never-ending experimental theatre. His followers and disciplines would certainly hold the torch already lighted by Oja Kanheilal.

Master is no more long live the master. When I asked, how old he was? He replied in his dramatic style, “I have crossed diamond jubilee and I will live till I die”.