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Nautanki (Hindi: नौटंकी) is one of the most popular folk operatic theater performance traditions of South Asia, particularly in northern India. Before the advent of Bollywood (Hindi film industry), Nautanki was the single most popular form of entertainment in the villages and towns of northern India.^[1]

The pleasure of Nautanki lies in the intense melodic exchanges between two or three performers; a chorus is also used sometimes. Traditional Nautankis usually start late at night, often around 10 p.m. or so, and go all night until sunrise the next morning (for a total of 8-10 hours in duration). There is no intermission in Nautanki performances. The performance is often punctuated with individual songs, dances, and skits, which serve as breaks and comic relief for audiences^[1]

Storylines of traditional Nautankis range from mythological and folk tales to stories of contemporary heroes. For instance, while Nautanki plays such as Satya-Harishchandra and Bhakt Moradhwaj are based on mythological themes, Indal Haran and Puranmal originated from folklores. In the first half of the 20th century, the contemporary sentiments against British rule and feudal landlords found expression in Nautankis such as Sultana Daku, Jalianwala Bagh, and Amar Singh Rathore^[1]

Some of the famous Nautanki performers are Gokul Korea, Ghasso, Ram Swarup Sharma of Samai-Khera, Manohar Lal Sharma, Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma, Chunni Lal, Giriraj Prasad, Puran Lal Sharma, Amarnath, Gulab Bai, and Krishna Kumari^[1]

In the last four decades, new Nautankis are centered around contemporary social messages such as health, HIV/AIDS, women’s empowerment, dowry, immigration, and family planning. They are of a much shorter duration—around 2 hours. This is to give audiences an opportunity to watch performances during a break in their daily routine^[1]

Source: Devendra Sharma, Ph.D.

History[link]

World-renowned artist Pundit Ram Dayal Sharma and Dr. Devendra Sharma performing Nautanki

The history of the Nautanki performative tradition (also referred to as Swang) goes back several hundred years. Nautanki's origins lie in the folk performance traditions of Bhagat and Raasleela of Mathura and Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh, and Khayal of Rajasthan^[2]. Nautanki's history becomes clearer in the nineteenth century with the coming of the printing press in India and publication of Nautanki operas in the form of chap-books^[3][1]

Nautanki reached the pinnacle of its glory in the early 20th century when numerous Nautanki performing troupes, known as mandalis (literal meaning: groups) and akharas (literal meaning: wrestling arenas) came into existence. Nautanki mandalis were called akharas due to the prevalence of particular style of singing in Nautanki that required a lot of physical power. The Nautankis staged by these akharas became the main source of entertainment in the small towns and villages of Northern India, and remained as such until television and VCRs began to make inroads beginning in the early 1990s^[1] Riding on its popularity, Nautanki progressed both in terms of form as well as content and its stage became bigger and more professional. Nautanki companies like Natharam's mandali, catching the cue from big Parsi theater (an urban Indian theater style) troupes such as Alfred Theater Company, started to present their performances outside the core region of its audience. Some performances occurred as far as in Myanmar^[1]

Nautanki still holds a strong influence over rural peoples’ imagination, and even after the spread of mass media (such as television and radio), a crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 can be seen at the top Nautanki performances. Like many other folk forms of India, Nautanki's status has been badly affected by the apathy of the political leadership, and the attitude of looking down upon the indigenous Indian artistic traditions by the powerful urban-based elites suffering from a post-colonial hangover (colonial after-effects on the psychology of Indian elites)^[1]

Source: Devendra Sharma, Ph.D.

The Contemporary Scenario[link]

Devendra Sharma and Palak Joshi in Nautanki "Sultana Daku"

At present, Nautanki is experiencing a dialectical tension. On the one hand, it still holds an important place in people's collective imagination, and on the other, it is struggling to deal with changing audience aspirations molded by cinema and television. Some performing troupes have used Nautanki to grasp and incorporate Indian society's contemporary concerns for social change and development. Brij Lok Madhuri (BLM) is one such troupe. BLM was founded by renowned Nautanki singer and actor Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma in the 1970s to promote the use of folk forms for purposive social change. As a community art form, Nautanki is a more "real" and live art form than television and video can ever be, and also closer to the culture of rural and semi-rural people. Working with the Government of India and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs from 1999 to 2004, BLM created new Nautanki and other folk form scripts on pro-social messages such as small family size, women's empowerment, dowry eradication, and HIV-AIDS prevention. BLM trained over 150 folk troupes to perform these scripts in north Indian villages^[4]. By 2003, over 10,000 performances had been given by these troupes in as many villages. This contemporary use is giving an edge to Nautanki^[1]

Recently, the Nautanki performance form has been introduced in America by Dr. Devendra Sharma, son of Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma and Nautanki performer, writer, director, and scholar of communication and performance. The participants in Dr. Sharma's productions are engineers, doctors, and other members of the Indian diaspora living in America, who are given a rare opportunity to connect with their cultural roots. At the same time, these performances expose other communities in America to Indian culture. One such Nautanki is "Mission Suhani," an original Nautanki co-authored by Dr. Devendra Sharma and Pundit Ram Dayal Sharma that communicates a contemporary and controversial social issue concerning Indians and Indian immigrants in America. This Nautanki critically examines the phenomenon of some Indian men who come to America to study or work, but go back to India and get married, either because of parental pressure or to get a big dowry (cash given to the groom's family by the bride's side). Many of these men leave their wives in India and never bring them to America, where they often have another wife or a girlfriend. The bilingual nature of the script (it is both in Hindi and English) protects the traditional operatic and artistic elements of Nautanki while effectively communicating the story and contemporary social issue to a diverse audience. A contemporary Nautanki such as Mission Suhani involving a global social issue helps Nautanki update itself to emerging issues in contemporary society in India and around the world^[1]

Source: Devendra Sharma, Ph.D.

Further Reading[link]

• Grounds for play: The Nautanki theatre of North India, by Kathryn Hansen. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
• Saangit, ek lok natya parampara, by Ram Narayan Agrawal. Delhi, India: Rajpal and Sons, 1976.
• Nautanki overview

External links[link]

• Devendra Sharma: Nautanki and Rasiya Artist

References[link]