Vibhajan… Vibhishika… Tamas… is a stage adaptation of the Hindi novel ‘Tamas’ written by renowned author Bhisham Sahni. Set against the backdrop of 1947 partition of the country the play powerfully captures the harrowing experiences of people from different communities as they grapple with the violence and chaosthat followed. Itsheds light on the human loss and communal tensions that emerged during this tumultuous period in Indian history.

Director

Chittaranjan Tripathy, an alumnus of the National School of Drama, 1996, is a Sangeet Visharad in Oddisi vocal from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh, and has trained at the musical theatre department, the Guildford School of Acting, UK, on a Charles Wallace fellowship.He has directed plays for leading theatre groups, institutions, and repertory companies like Taj Mahal Ka Tender, Capitol Express, Arre Mayavi Sarovar, Ladi Nazaria, Humare Sheher Ke Romeo Juliet, Gunno Bai, Yahudi ki Ladki, Darling Darling, Taj Mahal Ka Udghatan, Are Shareef Log and Shabash Anarkali.Heis a practicingdirector/writer/actor/musician/teacher in theatre, television, and cinema.

Writer

Bhisham Sahni – born in 1915 in Rawalpindi, in undivided Punjab -was a Hindi writer, playwright, and academician. From 1956-63 he worked as a Hindi translator at the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow. On his return to India, he resumed Lectureship at Delhi University,edited the reputed literary magazine Nai Kahaniyan from 1965-67, and was associated with several organizations like IPTA, the All-India Progressive Writers Association, the Afro-Asian Writers’ Association, andthe Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust – ‘Sahmat.’ He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1998 and Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2002.

Director’s Note

The play is a remembrance of a wound that carved two nations out of one. The Partition of 1947 not only redraw the borders it tore apart Bharat’s soul. Behind the celebrations of Independence lay a colossal human tragedy, crores displaced, lakhs slaughtered, countless women violated, and entire communities erased from their ancestral lands. Tamas is not a tale of simple heroes and villains – it is the anatomy of a civilizational collapse under the British policy of divide and rule and cemented by appeasement politics, propaganda, lies, and political ambition which turnedfriends into foes, neighbours into murderers.To be truthful to the novel, the play uses 90 percent of the text from it as dialogues.It is a memorial of conscience, also a warning. Religious confusion, cultural deracination, and political appeasement are the weapons still wielded today, only in subtler forms.As Bharat rises toward global leadership, we must remember: strength is built on truth and unity.

Never again shall Bharat bleed for political gain.

Never again shall appeasement outweigh justice.

Never again shall we forget our dead.

Adaptation

Asif Ali Haidar Khan is an alumnus of the National School of Drama, Delhi. His original plays areKafka EkAdhyay, GulabBai, Rang Abhang, VikhanditChhaya,KarnaGatha, TukdaShahar, BheemGatha, Bhabharatametc. He has received the SNA UstadBismillah Khan YuvaPuraskar 2006, Manohar Singh Memorial award 2016, and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2023 for his contributions as a playwright.

Group

Established in 1964, the NSD Repertory Company is the regular performing department for establishing professional theatre and continuing regular experimental work.