Chhabildas Movement

The experimental marathi theatre that found its home in a private school-Chhabildas Lallubhai High School in Dadar named after its founder Chhabildas is refered to as the Chabildas movement. It started with the forming of the theatre group Awishkar by actor-director couple of Arvind Deshpande and Sulabha Deshpande along with Arun Kakade. During the mid-seventies, there were several active amateur groups in Bombay and most of them faced the financial crunch and in that context Chhabildas gave them their much-needed outlet and soon the movement flourished. At one time, veterans like Dr. Shreeram Lagoo, Amol Palekar and his wife Chitra, Om Puri and Sai Paranjpe, chose to perform there regularly.

Apart from Marathi productions, several Hindi experimental plays were also staged at Chhabildas. Girish Karnad’s Hayavadan was performed by Amol Palekar and Om Puri, while Badal Sircar’s Sari Raat was presented by Dubey. Chhabildas supported Hindi experimental theatre till it shifted to Prithvi Theatre ...............