As the man who brought the popular and the demotic into modern Indian theatre, Habib Tanvir is one of Asia’s most important and gifted theatre directors. In this memoir, touching on both the private and the public aspects of his life with startling candour, he takes us on a journey from his childhood in Raipur to the Bombay film world of the 1940s and thence to the Indian Theatre People’s Association, offering an invaluable window into twentieth-century India. Whether he is describing his family members, friends or actors, Habib Tanvir is superbly observant and sharply insightful, capturing both the quotidian and the quirky in his distinct style and delightful voice. Written with great warmth and humour, these memoirs provide a memorable portrait of an extraordinary man.

Based on the life of Nazir Akbarabadi, 1740-1830, Urdu poet.

The five essays in this book reflect many years of the author's sustained academic engagement with dramatic forms and traditions. The opening essay traces the historical trajectory of modern drama in Europe from its bourgeois period through the period of the liberal dissent to the more recent periods of radical alternative. The subsequent essays deal with certain specific examples of that drama in India and the West, such as Shakespeare adaptations on the Parsi theatre stage, Habib Tanvir, and Samuel Beckett. The author places each of these in a historical perspective. This approach constitutes the theoretical underpinning of the book giving cohesion to this collection of diverse essays. Although they were individually published in various journals and books in their earlier versions, they have been substantially revived and updated by the author for this volume. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

India is a timeless land of dynamic change and huge diversity. The social and political evolution over the centuries has greatly enriched the Indian culture and has given rise to great traditions and heritage. Its glorious history tells the tales of its prosperity despite destruction due to invasion by outside forces. This prosperity shines all over India especially, in palaces, temples and in many other monuments. More spectacular are the ruins of ancient India, which are still surviving to eagerly tell their stories to the patient listeners. The beauty of the sculptures and temple architecture of India are unparalleled; so are its natural beauty and its wild life. This book presents the travel experience of a couple that visits India to rediscover and explore the glorious vistas of the bygone era. They attempt to unravel the marvels of ancient India by digging inio the history, mythology and legends of every place they visit. This book is essentially a collection of travel stories presented in the fashion of a fiction, but with authentic facts and figures. Starting from the capital New Delhi and the exotic Himalayan towns of Haridwar and Hrishikesh, the travel continues to the colourful state of Orissa and then to the historical wonders and the magnificent sites of Karnataka and finally to the fascinating state of Tamil Nadu that gleams with vibrant spirituality around its countless temples. The reader will roam freely in the ruins, in the palaces and among the gorgeous temples with towering gopurams. The classic account of these travels allows the reader to stand up in a place where the present meets the past bridging time and space and surmounting all barriers, and to behold the most impressive evidence of the creative ability of the human mind.