Analyse the plot of the play Budhan.
Analyse the plot of the play Budhan The work under discussion
is the play Budhan, written by a group called the Denotified Chharas. The play
foregrounds the real case of Budhan, a member of the Sabar community of West
Bengal who was killed in police custody. This was revealed only after the
interference of activists like Mahasweta Devi who arranged a post-mortem. This
also materialized in the formation of the Denotified and Nomadic Tribes RightsAction Group. The play situated in real time allows us to use the creative form
of the play to raise pertinent questions about this case.
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The play acquaints us with the plight of the DNTs who fall
easy victim to the state forces. Their earlier status as a criminal tribe
provides the state with a convenient way out to decide on unresolved cases.
Members of the DNT can be easily blamed for everything. Their needs are
constantly ignored by the privileged groups who continue to judge them from the
perspective of “savageology.” The play provides a medium to the DNT to reach
out to the people of mainstream society. In this case, we watch in horror as
the play presents the real event of the Budhan case.
INTRODUCTION
The introduction to Budhan begins with the statement that
“Denotified tribals are often tortured and killed in police custody.” This
simple but hard–hitting statement sets the tone for what is to follow in the
play. The declaration is not subject to any doubt and the play bears out the
truth in its course. Analyse the plot of the play Budhan - The details of the
person in question, Budhan, are provided—he is a member of a denotified tribe;
the specific tribe being the Sabar. Budhan was killed in Februaury 1998. But it
was only with the intervention of the Kheria Sabar Welfare Samiti and the
writer and activist Mahasveta Devi that a postmortem took place. It was revealed
that Budhan had indeed died in police custody. This was in contrast to the
report submitted earlier by the state representatives. These facts point
towards the fragility of the lives led by the DNTs. The state has an easy way
out in the DNTs; in case of any crime they can be easily picked up and
tortured.
The plot of the play
Budhan
In terms of form and structure the parallel to epic theatre
is the nukkad natak tradition in India. Analyse the plot of the play Budhan , The
nukkad natak presentations are meant to be performed anywhere by drawing the
people through the use of songs and music. The stage space is nebulous and very
experimental. Any actor can play any role. The actors are not attached to a
specific role that they might enact. Instead, one actor can even perform
multiple roles depending on the number of actors present or the intention of
the production. The actors are attached to the ideas that they present. Safdar
Hashmi has documented the history of street theatre in India and traces its
genesis to the Russian Revolution. He explains how it spread from there to
China, and in India it took the form of the Indian People’s Theatre Association
(IPTA). Hashmi discusses the limitations of proscenium theatre and its
association with “the finer and subtler aspects of life.” He identifies a
potential in street theatre to address social problems. Street theatre provides
the apt structure and space to discuss the issues of the DNTs and more
specifically the Budhan case. Analyse the plot of the play Budhan.
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In Scene II the play begins as Budhan and Shyamali are
shown to be an ordinary couple stopping by at a paan shop. Shyamali is seen as
shy and Budhan as considerate. Just as he is about to pay the shopkeeper, his
hand with the money is held by Inspector Ashok Roy who is on the lookout for a
Sabar whom he can penalize. When Budhan asks about the nature of his crime.
In Scene III Shyamali and Budhan remark on the propensity of the
characters they play. The actor playing Shyamali states that she is an
“innocent woman” and the one playing Budhan comments on the sheer lawlessness
of the act—”Budhan was not even told his crime before he was arrested.” The
actor playing the role of Inspector Ashok Roy, too, states, “Killing Sabars was
just an enjoyable game for Officer Roy.” Analyse the plot of the play Budhan.
The plot sequence is resumed in scene IV. The actors who had earlier commented on the Inspector now
resume their roles. The Inspector and Constable compel Budhan to accept
responsibility for the seventeen thefts in the area. However, the latter pleads
that he is a simple basket maker who sells them to the “co-operative”. As
discussed in the previous unit, even as the DNTs try to rehabilitate
themselves, they are under constant surveillance and are made a scapegoat for
quick paperwork by the police. Shyamali continues to plead to the police but
her requests fall on deaf ears.
Scene VIII is again in the commentary mode. The actors point out the
discrepancy between the police and the legal system. The court orders that
Budhan be taken into remand but the viewers know that he was already in remand.
Where Sridhar was released on bail and taken to the Purulia jail, Budhan was
punished and sent to the same place. He is shifted “to Purulia jail after
sunset, which is against the set procedures.” As the actors form the Purulia
jail the audience realizes that this new aesthetics in drama lays greater
emphasis on the purpose of events rather than the depiction of naturalness on
stage.
Scene IX again takes us through
the stigma that is attached to the Sabars. The Budhan: An Analysis Assistant Superintendent has
little sympathy for Budhan’s condition and is filled with hatred at the mention
of the word Sabar. Analyse the plot of the play Budhan, Even in his pathetic
physical state Budhan is given charge of cleaning the “entire prison.” On
seeing his inability to work, the Assistant Superintendent and the Guard beat
him mercilessly so that he can’t even move. He is to “realize the value of hard
work” in a dark cell “where not even a ray of light can enter.”
Conclusion
The play is sharp in tone and uses the direct style to reach out and inform people of the truth regarding the Budhan case which has to be looked at various levels. First and foremost, it is a real case about a man Budhan from the Sabar community. The play in a style parallel to Dario Fo’s provides us with counter-information of the actual events regarding the case. Analyse the plot of the play Budhan , These have been hushed up and the death of this man is silenced. But the play allows this suppressed voice to surface and make a claim for justice. Secondly, the play is a reflection on the cruel practices of the state that criminalizes the DNTs and tortures them. Analyse the plot of the play Budhan, They are not given a chance to even present their side of the case.
Finally, the play has to be looked at from the point of
view of the structure of the play. Milind Bokil in his discussion of the DNTs
mentions the obduracy of the state functionaries who continue to see groups of
people as criminal. But what about the larger state of things? In a world where
crime acquires new forms every day, the political system ignores all these and
seems to convert the DNTs into scapegoats who will answer for the crimes of
other people.
The end of the play with its reference to political
scandals states how
the DNTs have never been involved in any such matter. But the DNTs have never
been accepted on their own terms. The appeal for respect at the end of the play
is a plea to understand the denotified tribes on their own grounds. Analyse the
plot of the play Budhan , This play also introduces us to an aesthetic in
theatre that has largely been dubbed amateurish and therefore ignored. But the
use of the Brechtian style of theatre allows the audience to confront the
contradictions present in reality and to pose questions regarding this world.
This approach presents
the realities of the Budhan case from the perspective of the DNTs while
highlighting the atrocities inflicted on them. At the same time it also helps
us perceive reality from the forgotten perspective of the DNTs. The real world
is not merely one to which the average audience belongs; it also belongs to the
people once branded as criminal and then “denotified.” Analyse the plot of the
play Budhan.
Other Important Questions
Q.1) Comment on the authorship of the play Budhan.
Q.2) What is the significance of the Narrator in Budhan.
Q.3) Analyse the plot of the play.
Q.4) Discuss Shyamali’s role in the play.
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