16/09/2026
Rectorate of the University of Arts
Kosančićev Venac 29
NE- BITEF
Program
12:00–12:15
BITEF and India
Opening speech: Dr Milena Dragićević Šešić, professor emeritus of the University of Arts in Belgrade
In the Serbian language
Introduction to the historical and cultural context of Habib Tanvir and Naja Teatro's guest appearance at the 17th BITEF in 1983.
12:15–13:15
Online conversation with Sudano Deshpande
In English
Sudhanva Deshpande is an actor, director and publisher, a member of the famous Indian theatre collective Jana Natya Manch (Janam) since 1987. Since 1998, he has been the editor-in-chief of the publishing house LeftWord Books, as well as the executive director of Studio Safdar in New Delhi. He is the author and editor of several books on Indian theatre and a long-term researcher of Habib Tanvir's work. He has co-directed two documentaries dedicated to Tanveer and his Naya Theatre.
The conversation will be devoted to Tanvir's life and work, his theatre philosophy and especially his attitude towards rural and folk performing traditions.
13:15–14:30
Film screening
My Village Is My Theatre, My Name Is Habib
A documentary film about the life, work and theatrical legacy of Habib Tanvir. The film follows Tanvir's artistic journey and his work with performers from rural areas, opening up the question of the relationship between traditional performing heritage and contemporary theatre.
14:30–15:30
Discussion about the movie
In the Serbian language
A conversation with the participants about Tanvir's theatre and its relevance today: Maja Ristić, Ksenija Marković - Božović, Ildiko Erdei, Dragan Ristić, Diana Kržinić Tepavac, Nevena Vitošević - Ćeklić, Ljubica Beljanski - Ristić...
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REPRISE
15:45–16:45 – conversation with Sudano Deshpande, an actor, director and publisher, a member of the famous Indian theatre collective Jana Natya Manch (Janam) since 1987.
16:45–18:00 – screening of the film My Village Is My Theatre, My Name Is Habib-Habib Tanvir: between tradition and modernity
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Habib Tanvir (17th BITEF 1983): pioneer of theatre decolonisation - return to living rural roots
In 1983, at the 17th BITEF, Habib Tanvir was a guest with his Naya Theatre and performed the play Čaran (originally Charandas Chor / Lopov Čarandas), which brought to the Belgrade stage a theatrical language shaped outside of the dominant European models of modern theatre.
The play arrived in Belgrade after great international success and the Fringe First award at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1982. Charandas Chor will remain one of Tanveer's best-known works and a paradigmatic example of his theatre - one that treats local performing traditions, languages and experiences not as a folklore accessory, but as a starting point for creating contemporary theatrical expression.
Habib Tanveer (1923–2009) was one of the most important Indian theatre writers, directors and actors of the 20th century. His work is particularly relevant today for thinking about the decolonisation of theatre: instead of building modern theatre on the model of dominant Western models, Tanvir searched for a new theatrical language in the living traditions, local languages, music and experiences of the communities from which he came. In 1959, he founded the Naya Theatre, whose specific expression arose from the meeting of urban actors and performers from rural areas, especially from Chhattisgarh. His play Ponga Pandit, which critically thematises religious fundamentalism and the abuse of religious authority, was exposed to protests and attempts to prevent its performance. Tanvir, as a Muslim artist who created a distinctly pluralistic theatre, insisted on a space where different religious, cultural and social traditions could coexist. In 2009, shortly after his death, Charandas Chor was banned in Chhattisgarh by the then Bharatiya Janata Party-led government following protests by members of the Satnami community who claimed the play insulted their spiritual leader.
Tanveer's experience thus raises a question that goes far beyond the history of an Indian director: What happens to theatre when different political and identity groups start to determine what art can say?
And this is where Tanveer becomes contemporary.
Because his story is not just a story about tradition and modernity, nor just about Indian theatre. It is a story about the right to diversity, about artistic freedom and about theatre as a space where different voices can exist without the obligation to fit into one dominant narrative.
That's why we don't consider his guest appearance at BITEF in 1983 just as archival information.
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