Utpal Dutt’s Political Jatra and Modern Indian Drama: Marxist Reinventions of Theatrical Tradition

Jatra, the traditional folk theatre of Bengal, intrigued Marxist dramatist Utpal Dutt both for its unparalleled popularity among the rural proletariat and for its suitability as a medium to communicate his politics to the masses. This article explores Dutt’s engagement with the stylistic and thematic aspects of traditional Jatra throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s within the context of the contemporaneous political climate in West Bengal and his “search for […] a wider audience.” I analyse a number of Dutt’s representative Jatra plays – including Baisākhi Megh [ The Cloud in Summer] (1974), Aranyer Ghum Bhāngchhe [ The Forest Is Waking Up] (1978), Sādā Posāk [ White Dress] (1979), Kuthār [ The Axe] (1980), Svadhinatār Phānki [ False Independence] (1981), and Dāmāmā Oi Bāje [ The Call for War Has Been Sounded] (1988) – to interrogate Dutt’s reliance on aesthetic and populist elements in Jatra as he politicized a traditional form and transformed it.