Khorang at 20:35, 2 December 2025

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{{Short description|Indian dramatist and theatre director (1916 – 2003)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Balwant Gargi
| image = Balwant Gargi.Amritsar.May1958.by Gopal Singh Chandan.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Gargi, Amritsar. 1958.
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date |df=yes|1916|12|4}}
| birth_place = [[Sehna, Barnala]] ([[Punjab (India)|Punjab]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2003|04|21|1916|12|04}}
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], India
| nationality =
| education =
| alma_mater =
| years_active =
| employer =
| organization =
| known_for =
| occupation = Writer, Theatre Director
| awards = Sahitya Akademi Award (1962)
Padma Shri (1972)
Sangeet Natan Akademi Award (1998)
}}

'''Balwant Gargi''' (4 December 1916 – 21 April 2003)<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Balwant Gargi - Library of Congress |url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50081729 |website=id.loc.gov |publisher= |access-date=29 December 2023 |language= |date=}}</ref> was an Indian [[Punjabi language]] dramatist, theatre director, novelist, short story writer, and academic.<ref name=tri/>

==Early life==
On 4 December 1916, in Canal House in [[Sehna, Barnala]] ([[Punjab (India)|Punjab]]), Balwant Gargi was born in a house near the Sirhind Canal, famous for being the spot where [[Razia Sultana]] was imprisoned. The second son in the family of Shiv Chand Garg, a head clerk in the Irrigation Department, he would go on create history in the world of Indian and Punjabi literature.

Gargi studied at [[Government College Lahore]], and completed his M.A.(English) and M.A.(Political Science) from [[FC College]] in [[Lahore]].<ref name=tri>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030423/main6.htm Balwant Gargi dead] ''[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]'', 23 April 2003.</ref> He also studied theatre with [[Norah Richards]] at her school in [[Kangra Valley]].

==Plays==
Gargi wrote several plays, including ''Loha Kutt'', ''Kesro'', ''Kanak Di Balli'', ''Sohni Mahiwal'', ''Sultan Razia'', ''Soukan'', ''Mirza Sahiba'' and ''Dhooni di Agg'' and short stories ''Mircha Wala Sadh'', ''Pattan di Berhi'' and ''Kuari Disi''. His plays were translated into 12 languages, and have been performed around the world, including [[Moscow]], [[London]], [[New Delhi]] and around the [[United States]].

Gargi's first play, ''Loha kutt'' (English: ''Blacksmith'') in 1944 became controversial for its stark picture of the Punjab countryside. At that juncture, he focused on poverty, [[illiteracy]], ignorance, and [[superstition]] marking rural life, which continued in ''Saelpathar'' (English: ''Petrified Stone'') in 1949, ''Navan mudh'' (English: ''New Beginning'') in 1950, and ''Ghugi'' (English: ''Dove'') in 1950. In the 1950 edition of Loha kutt, he resorted to drawing poetic and dramatic elements from [[J. M. Synge]] and [[Garcia Lorca]]. In subsequent works like ''Kanak di balli'' (English: ''Stalk of Wheat'') in 1968 and ''Dhuni di agg'' (English: ''Fire in the Furnace'') in 1977, these became his chief vehicles. For all the specificity of native locale, the former deflected as much towards Lorca's ''[[Blood Wedding (play)|Blood Wedding]]'' as the latter reminded one of Yerma. In ''Mirza-Sahiban'' in 1976, customs and conventions came in for bitter censure. Gradually, Gargi's preoccupation with sex, violence, and death became almost an obsession. [[Antonin Artaud]]`s theatre of cruelty grew into his [[categorical imperative]]. This required his [[dramaturgy]] to proceed through mythopoeia, which turns explicit in his last plays.
[[File:Balwant Gargi. Dramatist. New Delhi. 1992.jpg|left|thumb|Balwant Gargi. New Delhi. 1992]]
In ''Saunkan'' (English: ''Rival Women'') in 1979, the paradigm of [[Yama]]-[[Yami]], the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] god of death and his twin sister, becomes an occasion to glorify sexual union. Altogether dispensing with socio-political discourse, he turned to his new theme with a vengeance in ''Abhisarka'' (English: ''Lover'') in 1990. Gargi's penchant for the unexpected grew all-powerful.

For subject matter Gargi moved freely over social milieu, mythology, history, and folklore. For form and technique he relied as much upon [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] classics as on Lorca's poetic drama, [[Berthold Brecht|Brecht's]] [[epic theatre]], or Artaud's [[theatre of cruelty]]. In the composition and performance of his dozen full-length plays and five collections of one-act drama, he traveled from the realistic to the mythopoeic mode.

==Books and novels==

In addition to this dramatic corpus, Gargi's short stories began to be published in English. A book, ''Folk Theatre of India'', published in [[New York City]] and two semi-autobiographical novels in English and Punjabi, ''The Naked Triangle'' (''Nangi Dhup'') and ''The Purple Moonlight (Kashni Vehra)'' brought him to the forefront of cosmopolitan attention.<ref name="thehinduretailplus">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehinduretailplus.com/thehindu/mp/2003/05/26/stories/2003052600910200.htm |title=The Hindu : Scent of the soil, vision of the stars |publisher=thehinduretailplus.com |accessdate=6 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219111613/http://www.thehinduretailplus.com/thehindu/mp/2003/05/26/stories/2003052600910200.htm |archivedate=19 February 2012 }}</ref>

Balwant Gargi was among the pioneers of playwriting in Punjabi and the production and telecast of his plays like ''Sanjha Chulha'' on [[Doordarshan]] received countrywide appreciation

==Awards==
Gargi was awarded the [[Sahitya Akademi award]], the highest Indian literary award, in 1962 for his book ''Rang Manch''.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://jsks.biz/rang-manch-balwant-gargi | title=Rang Manch | publisher=Navyug Publishers}}</ref> This was followed by the [[Padma Shri]]<ref>[http://india.gov.in/myindia/padmashri_awards_list1.php?start=1380 Padma Shri Awards] ''Govt. of India'' website.</ref> (1972), and the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] in Punjabi Playwriting in 1998.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm |title=SNA: List of Akademi Awardees |publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] Official website |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217185616/http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm |archivedate=17 February 2012 }}</ref> Gargi is one of the few artists to win both the Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi awards.

==Theatre and teaching==
Balwant Gargi taught for two years (1966–67) at the [[University of Washington]], where he met Jeanne Henry, who later became his wife. This period was the basis of his [[autobiography]] ''The Naked Triangle''.

Balwant Gargi was the founder-director of the Indian Theatre Department, [[Panjab University]], [[Chandigarh]]. The open-air theatre at the department is named after him. His students include [[Anupam Kher]], [[Kiron Kher]], [[Satish Kaushik]], [[Poonam Dhillon]], and many other current [[Bollywood]] stars.

Over the years, Gargi lectured and taught as a distinguished visiting professor at [[Harvard University]], [[Vassar College]], [[Mount Holyoke College]], [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity College]], the [[University of Hawaii at Manoa|University of Hawai'i]], [[Yale University]], and many other renowned international institutions.

His children, Manu Gargi and Jannat Gargi, are settled in the United States. They are both producers of films in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]].

==See also==
*[[Chaman Lal Chaman]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://indiantheatre.puchd.ac.in/ Theatre Deptt., PU, Chandigarh]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gargi, Balwant}}
[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]
[[Category:Indian drama teachers]]
[[Category:Punjabi-language writers]]
[[Category:Punjabi Hindus]]
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Government College University, Lahore alumni]]
[[Category:Forman Christian College alumni]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:People from Bathinda]]
[[Category:Harvard University staff]]
[[Category:University of Washington faculty]]
[[Category:Vassar College faculty]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Punjabi]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]

Balwant Gargi - Revision history

Khorang at 20:35, 2 December 2025