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Home > Sunday Mid Day News > Sumedha Raikar Mhatre Girgaums drama queen

Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre: Girgaum's drama queen

Updated on: 18 March,2018 07:55 AM IST  |  Mumbai
Sumedha Raikar Mhatre |

A culture beat reporter rediscovers the forgotten 20th century female Marathi playwright, Hirabai Pednekar, whose Devdasi pedigree prevented her from contributing to the city's flourishing musical theatre scene

Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre: Girgaum's drama queen

Hirabai Pednekar left her mark in a male-dominated world of entertainment, when women weren’t even at the periphery
Hirabai Pednekar left her mark in a male-dominated world of entertainment, when women weren’t even at the periphery


Sumedha Raikar-MhatreJournalism is rife with strange coincidences. That explains why the first female Marathi dramatist Hirabai Pednekar (1885-1951), an acclaimed singer with two plays to her credit, did not find a biographer among her contemporaries or later chroniclers, who recorded the history of Indian theatre. Seven decades after her death, a culture beat reporter, Shilpa Surve, 39, working in the Marathi daily Saamna, has chronicled Hirabai's life in a crisp 120-page paperback titled Adya Mahila Natakkaar Hirabai Pednekar (Dimple Publication).


Surve's debut biography is not a planned effort. In her daily business of reporting on cultural trends and personalities, she started researching an overlooked figure, who is believed to be the first woman dramaturge in the Indian context too. Even if we consider the possibility that women in Marathi and other languages may have written plays before Hirabai, none were publicised or staged in the public realm, which makes her exceptional.


Biographer Shilpa Surve shares a geographical connect with the playwright, residing less than a kilometre from Hirabai’s Ganjawala chawl in Kandewadi, Girgaum. Pic/Ashish Raje
Biographer Shilpa Surve shares a geographical connect with the playwright, residing less than a kilometre from Hirabai’s Ganjawala chawl in Kandewadi, Girgaum. Pic/Ashish Raje

Hirabai, who has so-far attracted an "also-ran" mention in theatre encyclopedias, left her mark in a male-dominated world of entertainment when women weren't even at the periphery. Men played female parts on stage. Pednekar was not just a popular singer, her home was the nucleus for musicians and artists who sought her insights and brought their first drafts for corrections. She gave music to milestone plays, including Ram Ganesh Gadkari's Punyaprabhav; the heroine of Premshodhan was modelled on young Hira's sparky character. Hirabai solemnised both her plays in book form - Jayadrath Vidamban and Sangeet Damini, the second also performed by a known troupe - almost as if she knew that publication was her sole means to achieve immortality.

Shilpa Surve started by following Hirabai's trajectory, which meant travelling to the village Palshet, near Guhagar, Ratnagiri, where the playwright spent her last anonymous years. Managing an eight-hour day shift, Surve devoted her afterhours in a Dadar library to immerse herself in the circumstances in which an orphaned Goan girl ended up in Girgaum at the end of the 19th century. She revisited the terms accepted by Hirabai in the new home of her patron Krishnaji Nene.

Two coincidences dragged Surve further into the self-initiated project - she is a resident of Sutar galli in Girgaum, which is less than a kilometre from Hirabai's Ganjawala chawl in Kandewadi and Surve's hometown is in Guhagar, which is a 15-minute drive from Hirabai's last shelter, Palshet. "We share a marvellous geographical connect. The subject was within me, as if waiting for me to celebrate my Girgaum bonding with a respected figure. If not anything else, it is Girgaum's role in her cultural upbringing that I couldn't have left unchronicled."

Hirabai's story, indeed, could not have progressed without Girgaum. Born in Sawantwadi, Goa, to a 'nayakin' - courtesan from the Devdasi community - who died prematurely, Hira was adopted by her aunt Bhimabai and brought to Girgaum at the age of eight. Hira didn't have a known father or any ancestral ties with Goa. She was enrolled in the Naviwadi missionary school - a formative influence that built her vivacious sociable personality. Raised in a vibrant neighbourhood, which was the cultural-educational heart of a big industrial city, Hira benefited under the guidance of Father Joe and in the playful company of fellow mates, Sudha and Anjani, who remained her lifelong support.

Since Bhimabai continued her life as a nayakin in the chawl premises, earning the patronage and respect of benefactors like 'Cotton King' Premchand Roychand, little Hira could complete her schooling up to Std VII. The mehfils at home did not affect her lessons. On the contrary, that developed her ear for music and trained her as a singer-performer. She watched all landmark plays with her aunt; Sangeet Sharada being a key influencer with a progressive message against early marriage of girls. She became a keen observer of the theatre personalities who loved the late-night recitals, but did not want any day-time association with the Ganjawala chawl. Early on in life, Hirabai recognised that she could climb the social ladder only if she is perceived as a writer, more than as a singer, which explains why she complemented her music riyaz with the learning of six languages, including Sanskrit and Bengali. She felt education could save her, and other Devdasi girls, from a dependant life. That she couldn't attain independence despite the formal education is a tragedy that unfolds in Surve's book.

The Hirabai tragedy has a direct link with the narrow insular world of literature and theatre entertainment, which did not allow openings to a novice, least of all an ambitious teenager from a lower caste, who wanted to be looked on with respect. After Hirabai wrote her first skit, she did not expect praise, as she was aware of the limitations of her writings. She was looking for a few words of encouragement in select journals. Yet, her effort did not even merit a bad review. She wanted to dedicate her second creation, Sangeet Damini, to her mentor, who was the renowned playwright Shripad Krishna Kolhatkar. Kolhatkar had fond feelings for beloved Hira; he spent hours admiring her looks and voice. But, he didn't want to be publicly linked to the play of a nayakin. Similarly, Narayan Dattatray Joglekar, the handsome actor and owner of the Kirloskar Natak Mandali, could not push for Sangeet Damini's promotion. He couldn't bring himself to lobby for her prospects as a playwright, despite the sweet commitments he'd made in private. All the veteran men in her life, most prominently Govind Ballal Deval, whose disciples included Bal Gandharva and Ganpatrao Bodas, could not stand by her in her crises.

At one point, she vented her frustration in a satirical 'autobiography' centered on a fictional frustrated playwright, who has no takers, but who eventually gets publicity when he is jailed for slanderous writing. Many rookie writers feel the same today about the cliques and camps ruling the world of arts, where an outsider is unwelcome.

Young practitioners of art, especially those from modest backgrounds, need inclusion and validation. If they don't receive the right vibes at the right time - not necessarily monetary help - their dreams die unborn. Hirabai's story urges the reader not to lose out on moments when life puts us in a position to be generous.

Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre is a culture columnist in search of the sub-text. You can reach her at sumedha.raikar@gmail.com

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