Filmmaker recalls fond memories of Bhojpuri folk theatre icon Bhikari Thakur

Thakur, a Bhojpuri playwright, actor, and folk dancer had authored 12 plays, including the landmark Bidesiya on the theme of migration and numerous songs since the 1920s and ran a drama troupe.Jainendra Dost, co-director of Naach Bikhari Naach, shared finer aspects of the legends craft at the session organised by the Bihar State Film Development and Finance Corporation Ltd BSFDFC here on Monday.

Memories of Bhikhari Thakur, popularly known as the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri language, came alive during a discussion at an interactive session on ‘Naach Bikhari Naach’, a documentary film on four ‘Naach’ performers who had worked with him. Thakur, a Bhojpuri playwright, actor, and folk dancer had authored 12 plays, including the landmark ‘Bidesiya’ on the theme of migration and numerous songs since the 1920s and ran a drama troupe.

Jainendra Dost, co-director of ''Naach Bikhari Naach'', shared finer aspects of the legend's craft at the session organised by the Bihar State Film Development and Finance Corporation Ltd (BSFDFC) here on Monday. One of the persons who performed in the film include 97-year-old Ramchandra Manjhi, a recipient of several awards. The movie 'Naach Bhikhari Naach' captures the lives of four Launda Naach exponents, who were members of Bhikari Thakur’s troupe. The Launda Nach is a folk dance of the Bhojpuri-speaking people involving only men who dress as women called ‘launda’. The dance form is a subset of ‘Naach’, a traditional folk theatre from Bihar. The movie, produced by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT), was selected for the Indian panorama of the 49th International Film Festival (Goa) in 2018. The film has won several international awards, including Gold Awards (Jakarta International Film and Art Festival, 2018), best documentary (1st India International Film Festival of Boston, 2018), the best documentary on art (6th Woodpecker International Film Festival, New Delhi, 2018), 11th Dialogues International LGBT Film & Video Festival (Kolkata, 2017), and 8th International Folk Music Film Festival, Kathmandu (Nepal 2018).

During interaction with Deepak Anand, Additional Secretary (Art, Culture and Youth department of the Bihar government), Dost said, “As the protagonists narrate their life stories in the film, they provide an insight into the politics and aesthetics of the works of Bhikhari Thakur. His stage productions had the power to draw people leading to empty cinema halls”, said Dost.

Thakur, who restored the Bhojpuri art tradition and gave it an identity, was much ahead of his time, Anand said. “The legendary Bhikhari Thakur is one of the greatest folk artists that India produced in the 20th century. He got an immense appreciation for his plays that used to reveal the reality of society'', Anand said. Echoing a similar view, Assistant Professor of Patna-based A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Vidyarthi Vikas, said, ''Thakur was a crusader who presented his works in the Bhojpuri dialect in a manner that was appealing to the masses. He had started a social movement through his plays. “The state government must make arrangements to stage his plays that talk about existing social evils like alcoholism, prostitution, cruelty against women, caste discrimination and communalism, at the panchayat levels”, he said. Arvind Kumar Tiwary, General Manager, BSFDFC, Sandeep Saurav,MLA, and several filmmakers also attended the session.