CUT: The Death and Life of a Theatre Activist by Sreemoyee Piu Kundu, is a posthumous look at the personal and professional life of a visionary theatre artist. An excerpt:
The Sessions Court where my case was being tried was packed to the brim. At the back of the cramped hall stood a long line of press photographers and television camera crews; their flashlights pointing directly at my eyes, the intensity of the flickering red spots no different from the automatic rifles that the Rashtriya Dal goons had aimed at my troupe, in Malegaon. Prakash Lele, my leading man had stood between me and the mob, as Amol Rawat labelled me a Congress puppet. I think he used the word ‘najais’. Prakash, who lost his life, defending me…
It was just after the Mumbai riots in 1992. Amol Rawat’s words rang in my ears: ‘Didn’t I tell you to stop brainwashing these illiterate villagers? This play of yours is a bloody catalyst… politically motivated…what are you trying to tell them, huh? Teach this ignorant lot? That Muslims deserve equality…? That Hindus started the riots in Mumbai…? That we have blood on our hands? That the Koran is no different than the Gita? Ēka vēśyā mulagā (son of a whore) have you even read the Gita to know the difference?’
