NSD’s Dangerous Distortion of Bhisham Sahni’s Classic Drama ‘Tamas’
Prem Vatsa | 22 August 2025 | The Wire
In 2023, just before its scheduled staging, the theatrical adaptation of Bhisham Sahni’s celebrated novel Tamas was stopped from being performed at the National School of Drama (NSD). This transformed the usual production into something exceptional and contentious in the Indian theatrical landscape. That is, bringing this play to the stage in its original adapted form now required considerable effort and insistence.
Consequently, NSD director Chittaranjan Tripathi took upon himself the responsibility of launching it this year. In the process, the only precaution exercised was to render the staging so diluted that if Sahni himself (a vocal vāmpanthi) had witnessed it, he would have either died a hundred deaths, or erased the existence of this artistic expression….