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Press Release
On January 1, 1989 Safdar Hashmi was fatally attacked while he and his theatre group, Jana Natya Manch, were performing in Sahibabad, 20 kms from Delhi. The spontaneous nationwide protest led to the formation of a platform of artists, cultural activists and scholars, SAHMAT, committed to upholding the values of freedom of expression in creative practice. For the last 24 years, Safdar's birthday, April 12, has been observed as National Street Theatre Day by street theatre groups all across the country, with hundreds of performances, readings, workshops, conventions, seminars, and protest demonstrations. SAHMAT publishes a poster every year, copies of which are sent all over the country, besides organising street theatre performances, workshops and festivals, to mark the occasion.
SAHMAT, through its diverse activities, has been carrying forward the legacy of the progressive movement in the field of culture, which had manifested in the period of the struggle for independence in India in the formation of the Progressive Writers Association (PWA, 1936) and the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA, 1943). To mark National Street Theatre Day 2012, SAHMAT has brought out a book titled Balraj and Bhisham Sahni: Brothers in Political Theatre, which discusses the formation and functioning of IPTA through the lives and contributions of the two brothers Balraj Sahni and Bhisham Sahni. The book contains some rare photographs of persons associated with IPTA and of IPTA in performance, besides essays by Kalpana Sahni (daughter of Bhisham Sahni and niece of Balraj Sahni) and P.C. Joshi, first general secretary of the Communist Party of India ( 1935-1947). The book will be released on April 12 by the historian Romila Thapar. Popular IPTA songs will be sung on the occasion by, among others, Harshi Anand, who has had the privilege of singing with founder-members of IPTA's singing squad like Prem Dhawan in the 1940s. The evening's programme will be held at the Sahmat office, 29 Ferozeshah Road, 6 pm onwards.