Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali

Gujarati Natak Mandali (1878–89) and its successor Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali (1889–1948) was a theatre company in Bombay, British India. It made immense contribution to the Gujarati theatre, with productions of more than hundred plays, as well as the training and introducing of many major actors and directors.

Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali

Formation	1878 (1878)
Dissolved	1948 (1948)
Type	Theatre group
Purpose	Gujarati theatre
Location	Mumbai

History

Gujarati Natak Mandali (1878–89)

Gujarati theatre was established on the foundation of the Gujarati Natak Mandali. It was founded in response to discontent with the Parsi theatre company owner Framji Gustadji Dalal. The playwright Ranchhodbhai Dave, who had previously worked with Natak Uttejak Mandali (1875–94), helped in the starting and management of the new troupe, which initially started as an amateur group of Gujarati teachers. On 5 June 1878, three partners, Jayshankar Sarveshvar, Narottam Bhaichand, and Shivshankar Karasanji, co-founded the company, which later became known as Mehtajis' theatre company. Later they were joined by Manekram Dhirajram, Damodar Ratansi Somani, and Lalji Karsanji as new partners. The partners were responsible for various departments of the company. Sarveshvar was the manager and director of the company. The company pioneered the pure Gujarati culture-influenced theatre, free from any Parsi influences.^[1][2]

The company first produced Lalita Dukhdarshak (Lalita's Manifold Sufferings), a reformist play written and directed by Dave. It premiered on 6 January 1878 at the Victoria Theatre in front of an audience of 1200 people. It was the first social tragedy in the Gujarati language, with five acts and thirty-four scenes. It had twenty characters, including the character of Nandan, whose name became synonymous with a fool.^[1]

Dave wrote and directed the second play, Nal Damayanti (Nala and Damayanti), which also became successful. Other plays, Harishchandra, Madalsa ane Ritudhvaj (Madalsa and Ritudhvaj), and Banasur Madmardan (Taming of Banasur's Arrogance) were also produced by the company.^[1]

Chhotalal Mulchand Kapadia of Khambhat bought the Gujarati Natak Mandali with two other partners. Dayashankar Visanji Bhatt, aka Dayashankar Girnara, a theatre actor-director, renamed it the Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali and guided its further progress.^[2][1]

Rise and acclaim (1889–1922)

Jethalal Nayak, Dayashankar Vasanji and Jayshankar (Lakhwadwala) in Vikramcharit (1900) written by Mulani

Bapulal Nayak and Jaishankar Sundari in Mulani's popular play Saubhagya Sundari (1901)

Bapulal Nayak (left) and Jaishankar Sundari in the play Kamlata, at Gaiety Theatre, Bombay, 1904

Bapulal Nayak, Dayashankar Oza and Mohan Marwadi in Nandbatrisi (1906) written by Mulani

Advertisement of Sneh Sarita, a 1915 play

Bapulal Nayak (left) with Jaishankar Bhojak 'Sundari' in a play Sneh-Sarita in 1915. They acted in several successful plays together.

The new company was inaugurated on 29 June 1889 by Jhaverilal Umiyashankar Yajnik, the Sheriff of Bombay and native of Nadiad, with opening of the performance of Kulin Kanta or Vanrajvijay based on Manilal Nabhubhai Dwivedi's Kanta. It was directed by Girnara. Dwivedi saw the advertisement of performance and told Govardhanram Tripathi in Bombay to send him a legal notice for performing the play without his permission. Dayashankar went to Nadiad and met Dwivedi where he apologised, took him to Bombay, gave a diamond ring as well as requested him to write another play for rupees 400 to 500. Dwivedi did not accept the ring but agreed to write another play Nrusinhavatar for him. The new play was staged on 18 February 1899 but failed commercially because the director and lead actor were Parsis.^[2]

Under Girnara, the company excelled and brought many gifted actors and visionary directors as well as reputed playwrights, including some from literary circles.^[1] In the 1890s, Mulshankar Mulani was a major playwright who wrote several plays based on history and mythology.^[1] Bapulal Nayak was the leading actor of the company then.^[1]

Shankuntal (1889) and Rajbeej (King's Progeny, 1891) were successful productions.^[3][4][5][6] Kundbala (1892) depicted a relationship between a princely state and the British Raj. Following it, the censorship by the British authorities was instituted. It was followed by hit plays Mularaj Solanki (1895) and Karanghelo (1896, based on Nandshankar Mehta's Karanghelo). Barrister (1897) was about a youth who was devastated due to his attraction to the western world.^[3]

Bapulal Nayak was also involved in stage planning and the management of a theatre company. In 1899, he and Mulani became partners in the company, each holding a 6% share of the company.^[4]

Jayraj (1898) and Ajabkumari (1899) were not initially successful, due to the occurrence of a plague in Bombay. They became hits when they were performed again in 1912–13.^[7][3] Although the financial condition of the company had deteriorated, Vikramcharitra (1900), based on Shamal Bhatt's Sinhasan Batrisi, became a commercial hit and helped the company recover. Feeling hurt because of not receiving his previously agreed sum, Mulani left the company.^[3]

Mulani returned to the company and rewrote Saubhagya Sundari (1901), an adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. The company introduced Jaishankar Bhojak, then aged 12, in 1901, who mainly performed as a female impersonator as females were not allowed in theatres in those times.^[1][8][9] He played the role of Desdemona as a female impersonator in Saubhagya Sundari, opposite Bapulal Nayak. The play was successful and Jayshankar received his sobriquet, Sundari ('pretty woman'), for the lifetime.^[1][10][11] The pair soon rose to fame and acted together in several successful plays including in Jugal Jugari (Jugal the Gambler, 1902), Kamlata (Lovestruck Girl, 1904), Madhu Bansari (Sweet Flute, 1917) and Sneh Sarita (River of Affection, 1915), Vikrama Charitra (Vikrama's Life, 1902), Dage Hasrat (1901).^{[8][9][12][4][5]} Their pair continued till 1932.^[1] Prabhashankar 'Ramani' acted in several plays and also rose to fame.^[3] The company also travelled Karachi in 1905-06 where they was attacked by goons as well as a rumour of abduction of Sundari was circulated.^[13]

Music director Vadilal Shivram Nayak composed scores of more than 500 songs in about forty plays. About hundred of these were published in Gujaratna Natak-Geetoni Sargam (Notations to Songs in Gujarati Plays, 1956).^[1]

Nayak wrote Nand-Batrisi (1906), Chandrabhaga (1909), a farce entitled Navalsha Hirji (1909), Anandlahari (1919) and Saubhagya-no Sinh (1925).^[4]

When Mulani's three plays failed consequently, the company chose to stage nationalistic plays written by Nrisinh Vibhakar. These plays experimented with story and themes as well as focused on contemporary subjects instead of taking inspirations from popular subjects such as mythology. But their enactment stayed unchanged. His Snehsarita (River of Affection, 1915) had a lead character of a woman participating in the Indian independence movement.^[1][4][5] His another Sudhachandra (Sudha and Chandra, 1915) focused on swaraj (self-rule) and Madhubansari (Sweet Flute, 1917) focused on home-rule movement. Madhubansari ran successfully for two years due to great direction, fine acting and music.^[14] The Gaiety Theatre — now Capitol Cinema — owned by the company from 1893, was filled with spectators for these plays.^[1]

Decline (1922–1939)

Bapulal Nayak and Mohan Marwadi in Mulani's Vasantprabha, 1922

Bapulal Nayak acquired the company in April 1922.^{[1][12][4][5][15][16]} He started directing his plays and started adapting literature into plays.^[5] He produced Ramanbhai Neelkanth's play Raino Parvat (Mustard-seed to Mountain) in 1926. The songs of the play were written by Rasiklal Parikh and four shows of it were staged. Later he staged four plays written by Champshi Udeshi, four plays written by Gajendrashankar Pandya as well as many Parsi theatre styled plays. Gajendrashankar Pandya's play College Kanya (College Girl, 1925) starred popular actors Pransukh Nayak and Chhagan Romeo as comedians and it created controversy due to some of its dialogue about females; Narsinhrao Divetia, Chandravadan Mehta and Hansa Jivraj Mehta led the public protests against the play.^[4][1]

The company suffered due to internal squabbling and jealousy. Mulani had left the company. After death of Dayashankar Girnara, Sorabji Katrak was brought in as a new director. Bapulal highlighted his directorial mistakes so the owners of the company established a separate Mumbai Urdu Natak Mandali which was closed down after a year and Katrak had to leave. The owner Maganlal and Chhotalal were focused on profits only. Bapulal wanted to be a director and writer so he played a major role in outing others. Jaishankar Sundari too left the company and joined Laxmikant Natak Samaj for a brief period before returning to the company. After sometime, he retired from the theatre in 1932. p. 19 Mulani also retired in 1932.^[8][9] Nepolean (1937), written by Manilal Pagal, was premiered in Sayaji Theatre in Baroda.^[17]

Many poor quality plays produced only for profits led to their failure. The high salaried actors, costly productions and failure of plays led to the loss. With the advent of the cinema, the theatre started to lose its audience. The company was sold in 1938 and was closed on 30 November 1939.^{[16][12][4][15]}

Last years (1944–1948)

M/s Shantilal and Co. financed the company and Bapulal briefly ran it from 1944 to 1945 before his retirement in 1946. In 1948, Chandrahas Manilal Jhaveri ran it for some time and renamed it to Mumbai Subodh Natak Mandali before it became defunct.^{[12][4][15][1][16]}

List of plays

Following is the list of plays produced by the Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali:^[18]

Date	Title	Writer	Notes
Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali under Chhotalal Mulchand Kapadia
29 June 1889	Kulin Kanta or Vanrajvijay	Mulshankar Mulani (adaptation)	Adaptation of Manilal Dwivedi's Kanta
10 August 1889	Shakuntal	Mulshankar Mulani	Adaptation of Annasaheb Kirloskar's Shakuntal
4 January 1890	Kanaktara	Popat Prabhuram Vyas
9 August 1890	Harishchandra	Vishwanath Prabhuram Vaidya
21 January 1891	Rajbeej	Mulshankar Mulani
27 February 1892	Kundabala	Mulshankar Mulani
15 August 1892	Rasikmani	Narabheshankar Manchharam Vyas
17 December 1892	Nal Damayanti	Ranchhodbhai Dave
8 July 1893	Mansinh Abhaysinh	Mulshankar Mulani
2 December 1893	Sundar Veni	–
30 June 1894	Chanda
3 November 1894	Premkala	Vijayshankar Kalidas Bhatt
14 January 1895	Dukhi Bhai Bahen
27 April 1895	Mevadno Pratapi Chand	Vijayshankar Kalidas Bhatt
20 July 1895	Lalita Dukhdarshak	Ranchhodbhai Dave
19 October 1895	Mularaj Solanki	Mulshankar Mulani / Vijayshankar Kalidas Bhatt
5 September 1896	Karanghelo	Mulshankar Mulani	Adaptation of Nandshankar Mehta's novel Karanghelo
4 August 1897	Barrister	Mulshankar Mulani
8 January 1898	Ramcharitra	Vijayshankar Kalidas Bhatt
8 March 1898	Lakshadhipatino Raman		one-act play
23 April 1898	Pushpasen Pushpavati	–
27 August 1898	Jayraj	Mulshankar Mulani
18 February 1899	Nrusinhavatar	Manilal Dwivedi
18 July 1899	Tilakkumar	Vijayshankar Kalidas Bhatt
30 September 1899	Ajabkumari	Mulshankar Mulani
16 December 1899	Veer Mandal	Mulshankar Mulani
7 February 1900	Mohini	Vijayshankar Kalidas Bhatt
7 July 1900	Vikramcharitra	Mulshankar Mulani	based on Shamal Bhatt's Sinhasan Batrisi
19 October 1901	Saubhagya Sundari	Mulshankar Mulani
26 August 1902	Jugal Jugari	Mulshankar Mulani
18 October 1904	Kamlata	Mulshankar Mulani	Loosely based on Shakuntal[7]
1906	Nandbatrisi	Bapulal Nayak / Mulshankar Mulani	Based on Shamal Bhatt's Nandbatrisi
1908	Sangatno Rang	–
22 May 1909	Chandrabhaga	Bapulal Nayak
3 November 1909	Navalsha Heerji	Mulshankar Mulani
17 December 1910	Vasantprabha	Mulshankar Mulani
1911	Devkanya	Mulshankar Mulani
1912	Krishnacharitra	Mulshankar Mulani	Inspired from stories from Bhagavata[7]
31 January 1914	Prataplakshmi	Mulshankar Mulani	Based on Manilal Dwivedi's novel Gulabsinh
28 February 1915	Sangatna Fal	Mulshankar Mulani
19 September 1915	Sneh Sarita	Nrisinh Vibhakar
5 August 1916	Sudhachandra	Nrisinh Vibhakar
28 July 1917	Madhubansari	Nrisinh Vibhakar
23 November 1918	Meghmalini	Nrisinh Vibhakar
23 August 1919	Anandlahari	Bapulal Nayak
25 September 1920	Vishwaleela	Ambashankar Harishankar Upadhyay
Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali under Bapulal Nayak
25 April 1925	Saubhagyano Sinh	Bapulal Nayak
1926	Madandh Mahila Yane Noorjahan	Jayshankar Vaghajibhai Vyas
1926	Kumali Kali	Shayda
1926	Raino Parvat	Ramanbhai Nilkanth
1927	Jamanano Rang	Gajendrashankar Lalshankar Pandya
1928	Tarunina Tarang	Gajendrashankar Lalshankar Pandya
1928	Kashmirnu Prabhat	Gajendrashankar Lalshankar Pandya
21 February 1929	Kudaratno Nyay	Gajendrashankar Lalshankar Pandya
29 March 1929	Up-to-date Mavali	Joseph David
1929	Swamibhakti Yane Baji Deshpande (Hindi)	Munshi Mohiyuddin Naza
27 January 1929	Kimiyagar	'Manasvi' Prantijwala (rewritten)
9 January 1930	Kuldeepak	Gajendrashankar Lalshankar Pandya
October 1930	Bapna Bol	Chimanlal Trivedi
January 1931	Kutil Rajneeti	Gajendrashankar Lalshankar Pandya
23 January 1932	Karmasanjog	Mugatlal Pranjeevan Oza
1932	Karyasiddhi (Hindi)	'Manasvi' Prantijwala (adaptation)
1933	Gentleman Daku	Joseph David
1933	Rannsamragni
9 September 1933	Kon Samrat?	'Manasvi' Prantijwala (rewritten)
20 October 1933	Kanchankumari
1934	Koni Mahatta?	Manilal 'Pagal'
1934	Kirtivijay	'Manasvi' Prantijwala
13 September 1934	Jeenjarna Zankare	Champshi Udeshi
7 January 1935	Sachcha Heera (Urdu)	Munshi Mohiyuddin Naza (adaptation)
20 March 1935	Mumbaini Badi	Joseph David
1 June 1935	Gheli Guniyal	Champshi Udeshi
3 August 1935	Kevo Badmas?	Joseph David
January 1936	Kiritkumar	Manilal 'Pagal'
February 1936	Nepolean	Manilal 'Pagal'
30 July 1936	Jobanna Jadu	Manilal 'Pagal'
15 May 1937	Shataranjna Dav	Champshi Udeshi
7 August 1937	Gareebna Ansu	Champshi Udeshi
December 1937	Sinhasanna Shokh	Babubhai Kalyanji Oza
5 February 1938	Shrimant Ke Shaitan?	Babubhai Kalyanji Oza
1938	Samarprabha	Gajendrashankar Lalshankar Pandya
4 August 1938	Komi Nishan (Urdu)
23 September 1938	Nyayi Naresh	Manilal 'Pagal'
20 October 1938	Cinema ni Sundari	Babubhai Kalyanji Oza
19 November 1938	Sukhi Sansar	Champshi Udeshi
7 December 1938	Rajadhiraj	Chimanlal Trivedi
11 March 1939	Kalankit Kon?	Chimanlal Trivedi
26 July 1939	Kartavyapanthe?	G. A. Vairati
5 September 1939	Khavindne Khatar	Pherozegar
Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali under Mohanlal M. Jhaveri
25 April 1944	Garbhasanskar	Babulal Kalyanji Oza
26 October 1944	Parambhakta Prahlad	Babulal Kalyanji Oza
20 January 1945	Lakshmina Lobhe	Manilal 'Pagal'
14 June 1945	Aajni Duniya	Champshi Udeshi
6 December 1945	Narihriday	Shayda
25 April 1945	Garbhashrimant	Babulal Kalyanji Oza
31 August 1946	Aapnu Ghar	Vasant Hathiram Nayak
Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali under Chandrahas M. Jhaveri
9 September 1948	Hastamelap	Ambalal Manchand Nayak 'Pandit'
6 November 1948	Kariyavar	G. A. Vairati
28 May 1949	Varkanya	Hemubhai Bhatt
1 October 1949	Kulalakshmi

References

1. Bhojak, Dinkar J. (2004). Lal, Ananda (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001. ISBN 9780195644463 – via Oxford Reference.
2. Choksi 2004, pp. 11–12.
3. Choksi 2004, pp. 34, 117–119.
4. Baradi, Hasmukh (2003). History of Gujarati Theatre. India-The Land and The People. Translated by Meghani, Vinod. National Book Trust, India. pp. 60–63. ISBN 978-81-237-4032-4.
5. Baradi, Hasmukh (2004). Lal, Ananda (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195644468. OCLC 56986659 – via Oxford Reference.
6. Nayak, Suresh (January 1980). Gujarati Rangbhumina Abhinay Shilpi Bapulal Nayak (in Gujarati) (1st ed.). Suresh Nayak. pp. 6, 8. OCLC 7173414.
7. Bhojak, Dinkar (2002). Thaker, Dhirubhai (ed.). ગુજરાતી વિશ્વકોશ [Gujarati Encyclopaedia] (in Gujarati). Vol. XVI. Ahmedabad: Gujarati Vishwakosh Trust, Ahmedabad. p. 349.
8. "Jaishankar 'Sundari'". Gujarati Sahitya Parishad (in Gujarati). Retrieved 20 July 2014.
9. Lal, Ananda (2004). The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001. ISBN 9780195644463 – via Oxford Reference.
10. Poonam Trivedi, Dennis Bartholomeusz (2005). India's Shakespeare: Translation, Interpretation, and Performance. Pearson Education India. p. 50. ISBN 9788177581317.
11. Anshu Malhotra; Siobhan Lambert-Hurley (12 October 2015). Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia. Duke University Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-8223-7497-8.
12. Bhojak, Dinkar (1990). Thaker, Dhirubhai (ed.). ગુજરાતી વિશ્વકોશ [Gujarati Encyclopedia] (in Gujarati). Vol. X. Ahmedabad: Gujarati Vishwakosh Trust, Ahmedabad. pp. 95–96.
13. Choksi 2004, pp. 17–18.
14. Choksi 2004, pp. 18–31.
15. Choksi 2004, pp. 219–223.
16. Choksi 2004, p. 19.
17. Choksi 2004, p. 18.
18. Choksi 2004, pp. 20–21, 40, 64, 66.

Bibliography

• Choksi, Mahesh (2004). Choksi, Mahesh; Somani, Dhirendra (eds.). Gujarātī Raṅgabhūmi: Riddhi ane Ronaka ગુજરાતી રંગભૂમિ: રિદ્ધિ અને રોનક [Compilation of Information regarding professional theatre of Gujarat]. Ahmedabad: Gujarat Vishwakosh Trust. OCLC 55679037.