https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Jahangir_Pestonji_KhambhataJahangir Pestonji Khambhata - Revision history2026-08-01T02:35:50ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Jahangir_Pestonji_Khambhata&diff=127141&oldid=prev>Nizil Shah at 07:40, 23 April 20212021-04-23T07:40:38Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>'''Jahangir Pestonji Khambhata''', also spelt '''Jehangir Pestonjee Khambatta''' (1856–1916) was a [[Parsi theatre]] actor, director and manager, as well as a playwright of the [[Gujarati theatre]].<br />
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==Early life==<br />
Khambhata was born in 1856 in [[Bombay]] to a [[Parsi]] family. He was raised in [[Cambay]] (Khambhat), [[Gujarat]], and joined theatre at a young age. At age 14, he received acclaim for his role as Arnavaz in Kaikhushru Kabraji's play ''Jamshed'' (1870). He also played female impersonator roles and was praised for his role of a fairy, Mahru Pari, in Aram's play ''Benazir-Badremunir'' (Benazir and Badremunir, 1872), produced by the Victoria Theatrical Company.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001/acref-9780195644463-e-0281#|title=Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre|last=Bhojak|first=Dinkar J.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780195644463|editor-last=Lal|editor-first=Ananda|language=en|chapter=Khambata, Jehangir Pestonji|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001|via=Oxford Reference}} {{subscription required}}</ref><br />
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== Career ==<br />
Khambhata wanted to visit England to see the plays of [[Shakespeare]], but could not because the ship his troupe boarded moved eastward and he toured [[Burma]], [[Java]], [[Sumatra]] and [[Andaman Islands]] in 1875.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="x1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hv9ZAAAAMAAJ|title=The Indian Journal of English Studies: The Official Organ of the Indian Association for English Studies|publisher=Orient Longmans|year=1964|volume=5|page=14|issue=1}}</ref> With help of his friend Lalsingh Dulhasingh of Delhi, he established Empress Victoria Theatrical Company which operated from 1876 to 1878.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Kathryn|date=1998|title=Stri Bhumika: Female Impersonators and Actresses on the Parsi Stage|url=https://www.epw.in/journal/1998/35/special-articles/stri-bhumika-female-impersonators-and-actresses-parsi-stage.html|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=33|issue=35|pages=2291–2300|via=JSTOR}}</ref> He produced ''Khudadad'' (The Gift of God, 1898, based on Shakespeare's ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre|Pericles]]'') starring [[Mary Fenton]] and [[Kavasji Palanji Khatau]].<ref name="TrivediBartholomeusz2005">{{cite book|author1=Poonam Trivedi|author2=Dennis Bartholomeusz|title=India's Shakespeare: Translation, Interpretation and Performance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VInfNPwMHYoC&pg=PT243|year=2005|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-9959-8|page=243}}</ref> Khatau and Khambhata later separated from each other.<ref name=":1" /> Khambhata also worked with Alfred and Hindi theatre companies later.<ref name="Hansen2013">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7Q1DgAAQBAJ|title=Stages of Life: Indian Theatre Autobiographies|author=Kathryn Hansen|date=1 December 2013|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-78308-098-4|pages=33–34, 340}}</ref><br />
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He introduced young actors such as Nayak and Bhojak, a traditional performer community from [[North Gujarat]] in his troupe. He wrote five plays on Parsi social customs including ''Juddin Jhaghdo'' (Juddin's Fiasco, 1905), a farce inspired by a true story of a Parsi man, his non-Parsi wife and their son.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="GledhillWilliams2018">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUpBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT171|title=Melodrama Unbound: Across History, Media, and National Cultures|author1=Christine Gledhill|author2=Linda Williams|date=8 May 2018|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-54319-4|page=171}}</ref> ''Mahro Nataki Anubhav'' (My Experiences on the Stage, 1914) is his memoir in [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="x1"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Kathryn|date=1999|title=Making Women Visible: Gender and Race Cross-Dressing in the Parsi Theatre|journal=Theatre Journal|volume=51|issue=2|pages=127–147|jstor=25068647|doi=10.1353/tj.1999.0031}}</ref> It was published as sixty-two essays in ''Parsi'' weekly. The initial essays describe his birth, parentage, education and the onset of his interest in theatre. Other essays describe the theatre clubs of that time but rarely describes his personal roles.<ref name="Hansen2013" /><br />
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== Death ==<br />
Khambhata died in 1916.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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==References==<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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[[Category:Indian male stage actors]]<br />
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]<br />
[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]<br />
[[Category:Indian male musical theatre actors]]<br />
[[Category:Gujarati theatre]]<br />
[[Category:1856 births]]<br />
[[Category:1916 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian male actors]]<br />
[[Category:People from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Urdu theatre]]<br />
[[Category:People from Kheda district]]</div>>Nizil Shah