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Tamil Drama had its beginning in the 19th century. Among the early exponents is Prof. Sundaram Pillai, whose' Manonmaniam' was an immensely popular verse drama. Sankardas Swamigal, Sambananda Mudaliar and V.G. Suryanarayana Sastri are the pillars of Tamil Theatre. Nawab Rajamanickam ('Nandnar), Trichy Kannaya Naidu ('Dasavatharam', 'Valli Thimmanam,), Vishwanatha Das, S.G. Kittappa, Madurai Bhaskara Das, T.K.S. Brothers, KR. Ramaswamy, N.S. Krishnan, Sivaji Ganesan and M.s. Draupati have earned fame as writers or artists. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, R.S. Manohar, Komal Swamynathan, Cho Ramaswamy, Mauli, Mereena and Poornam Vishwananthan have also contributed to its development.
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Malayalam theatre has had its initiation under the tutelage of Tamil. Ochira Velukutty, Akbar Sankara Pillai, Sebastian Kunjukunju, Augustine Joseph, Vaikom Vasudevan Nair were among the early actors who earned fame. Among the early playwrights were CV. Raman Pillai (Kuruppilla Kalari; Papi Chellunnidam Pathelam). E.V. Krishna (Kanyaka, Bhagna Bhavanam), G. Sankara Pillai (' Poojamuri), CJ. Thomas (' AaManushyan Nee Thanne'), CN. Sreekantan Nair and P.J. Antony.
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Some important dramatists of later years are T.N. Gopinathan Nair, Thoppil Bhasi, KT. Mohammed and N.N. Pillai. Of course, writer director KN. Panicker's work has been phenomenal.
Punjabi-Urdu Theatre has tried to break out of regional and language barriers. Until very recently, Urdu theatre used to depend very heavily on 'Parsi style' plays and translations/ adaptations. People who have been at the forefront of this movement have been Sheela Bhatia, Gursharan Singh, Balwant Gargi, Paritosh Gargi, Kartar Singh Duggal, Neelam Mansingh Chaudhary, Shanno Khurana and Harcharan Singh Kanwal 'Vidrohi'. The work of writer-director CD. Sidhu has also been in the news.
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Hindi Theatre By the middle of the 19th century, while on one hand there was an increasing western influence, on the other hand, was a rising nationalistic consciousness and pride in our ancient history and culture. In Mumbai, Circa 1852 a new style of commercial theatre started which swept across the entire country. It was the Parsi theatre movement. The effects of this highly popular style can be seen in the dramatisation, language, music and screenplays of Mumbai 'formula' movies. At around the same time the first modern 'Indian' dramatist Bhartendu Harischandra started another movement in Kashi. This was non-commercial in nature both in content and form. Harishchandra gave a new mission to Indian theatre with plays with contemporary themes such as the paradoxes of the Raj: 'Andher Nagari', 'Bharat Durdasha', 'Satya Harihchandra' and 'Vediki Himsa Na Bhavati'. He took Indian theatre to the path of modernity. The great plays of Jayashankar Prasad 'Skandgupta', 'Chandragupta' and 'Dhruvswamini' all seem to be influenced by nationalism, poetry and ancient India philosophy. Post independence, playwrights such as Dharmavir Bharati ('Andhayug'), Jagdish Chandra Mathur ('Konark', 'Pehla Raja'), Mohan Rakesh ('Ashadh Ka Ek Din', Lehron Ke Rajhans', Adhe Adhure'), Surendra Verma ('Surya Ki Antim Kiran Se Sunja Ki Pehli Kiran Tak', 'Quaid-E-Hayat') and Nand Kumar Acharya ('Dehantar', 'Hastinapur', 'Ghulam Baadshah') have followed in this great tradition.
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The years 1943 and 1954 saw the birth of two institutions which have had an indelible impact on Indian theatre organisation. These were IPT A and Prithvi Theatres, IPT A was a non commercial theatre formed by the great playwrights, directors and actors of the day, which aimed at depicting the bitter realities of life. Prithvi was semi commercial and more popular which also focused on social problems of the day.
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Post 1947 Bengali theatre has also seen a great change in style. The greatest exponent of this new style has been Badal Sarkar, whose dramas range from serious forms as 'Evam Indrajit', 'Baki Itilias, 'Pagla Ghoda' to social and exciting dramas like 'Bhoma', 'Spartacus', 'Baasi Khabar, and 'Prastava'.
Indian theatre got a firmer footing when the Kendriya Sangeet Natak Academy was started in January 1953. Other important contemporary dramatists are: Shankar Shesh, Sharad Joshi, Mani Madhukar, Gyandev Agnihotri, Swadesh Deepak. They have been aided by some brilliant directors like Shama Zaidi, Habib Tanvir, M.S. Sathyu, I.L. Das, Ebrahim Alkazi, Ramesh Mehta, Shyamanand Jalan, B.Y. Karanth, Satyadev Dube, Rajinder Nath, M.K. Raina etc. However, the most important event has been the establishment of the National School of Drama at New Delhi.
The mixing of various styles and techniques from Sanskrit, Medieval folk, Western and Modern Indian Theatre have given birth to a new, versatile and broader approach at every level of creativity. This has made theatre more lively, rich and meaningful. Slowly, many writers have broken the barriers of regional languages and produced memorable works. Badal Sarkar, Vijay Tendulkar, Adya Ranacharya, Girish Karnad and Mohan Rakesh have been a few amongst them.
Electronic media has presented the greatest challenge to theatre till date. Leaving aside commercial Bangla, Marathi and Gujarati theatre, there is a dearth of experimental, serious and meaningful theatre in Hindi and other languages. However, as history is witness, theatre has survived in the past and will survive in the future.
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