Big B’s first show, at the age of 16, got a job pulling the curtain in his father’s play

The famous Hindi poet Harivanshrai Bachchan translated Shakespeare’s famous play “Macbeth” into Hindi and that play was directed by my father. When the play was performed in Delhi in 1958, Teji Bachchan played the role of Lady Macbeth and the play was inaugurated by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. When the characters were being selected for the play, Teji Bachchan ji wanted his son Amitabh Bachchan to get the role, but my father did not give him any role. On this, Teji Bachchan complained to Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Then Bachchanji said that Virendra Narayan is the director of the play, so only he has the right to give a role or not to someone in the play. After this father gave Amitabh Bachchan the role of raising and lowering the curtain of the play. At that time, Amitabh Bachchan was only 16 years old. In those days there was no tradition of raising or lowering the curtain on the theater with a remote control like today, rather this was done by hand. Thus, this was Amitabh Bachchan’s first association with theatre.

Virendra Narayan’s son Vijay Narayan gave this information in one of his meetings. Let us tell you that Virendra Narayan’s 100th birth anniversary is being celebrated on November 16. On this occasion, Virendra Narayan’s play ‘Bapu Ke Saye Mein’ will also be launched at the India International Centre, New Delhi. On Gandhi’s birth centenary in 1969, the play “Bapu Ke Saye Mein” was staged by the Government of India.

The program is being jointly organized by Raza Foundation, Strilekha and Virendra Narayan Birth Centenary Celebration Committee. Two young theater artists from the capital are also being felicitated with ‘Virendra Narayan Janm Shatabdi Award’ in this function. The honorees include NSD Theater Group head Rajesh Singh and renowned theater artist Priyanka Sharma.

Virendra Narayan, born on November 16, 1923 in Bhagalpur, Bihar, was a renowned playwright, director, theater critic and stage actor of his time and also a freedom fighter. He also spent three years in jail in the 1942 movement. Famous Hindi writer Phanishwarnath Renu was also in the same ward of the jail with him. Virendra Narayan was also an assistant editor in Lokanayak Jayaprakash Narayan’s newspaper “Janata”. In the year 1950, he was also an assistant editor in “Nai Dhara” with Ramvriksha Benipuri.

Virendra Narayan’s son Vijay Narayan said that his father started writing plays in prison and the inmates staged them. The play “Sharatchandra” was written in the year 1952. Wrote the play “Soordas” on the blind in 1960. While working in the Department of Song and Drama in India, he wrote several plays and was the architect of the light and sound program in the country. Virendra Narayan did light and sound programs on Ramacharitmanas, Vidyapati, Subramaniam Bharathi and Krishnadev Rai. Hundreds of his shows took place in cities of North and South India. When the light and sound program of “Ramcharitmanas” was held in Delhi, then Prime Minister Morarji Desai and then Information and Broadcasting Minister Lal Prasad Advani also came to see it. Both the leaders were highly appreciative of Virendra Narayan for the programme.

Vijay Narayan says that like Habib Tanveer and Ibrahim Alkaji in those days, his father also came from abroad with theater training. Father was the first Indian to do theater in London, having trained at the Institute of Dramatic Art and Music in London. Father wrote four-five novels. Wrote the first book on theatre. Also wrote plays in English. Wrote a book on Jaishankar Prasad’s plays. Agyaji wrote the introduction to one of his novels. He was also a sitar player. He was close friends with people like Anil Biswas and Vilayat Khan. Raj Babbar, Dinesh Thakur, Kavita Chaudhary etc. were associated with his plays.

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Tags: Amitabh Bachchan, bollywood news, Hindi literature, Literature