What do you think?
Rate this book
हल्ला बोल सफ़दर हाश्मी की मौत और ज़िंदगी
‘मैं सफ़दर को बहुत चाहता था। वैसे, भला कौन उसे नहीं चाहता था? हम सभी उसकी दिलकश शख़्सियत, उसके सहज ठहाके, उसकी तमीज़ और तहज़ीब, सहज अभिव्यक्ति, स्पष्ट नज़रिए और कोमल मानवीय मूल्यों के क़ायल थे।’ – हबीब तनवीर
यह मौत की कहानी नहीं है। यह ज़िंदगी की कहानी है। एक सादालौह इंसान की दमकती, हसीन ज़िंदगी की कहानी, जितनी साधारण, उतनी ही असाधारण। सफ़दर हाश्मी की कहानी।
वह नया साल था। साल 1989 का पहला दिन। दिल्ली के एक बाहरी इलाक़े में नुक्कड़ नाटक के परफ़ॉर्मेंस के दौरान जन नाट्य मंच यानी जनम के समूह पर हमला किया गया। सफ़दर जनम के इस समूह का नेतृत्व कर रहा था। उस हमले ने जब उसकी जान ली तब वह सिर्फ़ 34 साल का था।
दिल दहना देने वाले उस हमले – जिसने सफ़दर को मार डाला – के चित्रण के साथ इस किताब की शुरुआत होती है और हमारा परिचय एक ऐसे इंसान से कराती है, जो कलाकार था, कॉमरेड था, कवि-लेखक, अभिनेता था और एक ऐसा इंसान था जिसे सभी चाहते थे, जो सबका प्यारा था। लेकिन यह किसी एक इंसान या किसी एक दुखद घटना पर लिखी गई किताब नहीं है। हल्ला बोल यह बताती है और बेहद बारीक़ी से यह महसूस भी कराती है कि कैसे एक व्यक्ति की मौत और ज़िंदगी, तमाम दूसरे लोगों की कहानियों में गुंथी रहती है।
सफ़दर के बाद बड़ी हुई एक पूरी पीढ़ी के लिए हल्ला बोल एक खज़ाना है। ऐसी कहानियों और ब्यौरों से भरा खज़ाना जो उस दिलचस्प आदमी के जुनून, हास्य, और इंसानियत को एक अंतरंग पोर्ट्रेट के तौर पर आपके सामने नुमायां करती है। सब मिलकर विचारधारा और ज़िंदगी के संघर्ष को आपस में जोड़ने वाली एक मज़बूत कड़ी को सामने लाती है। सफ़दर और उसके साथियों ने जो संघर्ष किए, वह वर्तमान भारतीय समाज को राह दिखाने वाली मशाल है।
जनम का नाटक हल्ला बोल जो हमले के वक़्त झंडापुर में खेला जा रहा था, वह इस किताब में शामिल किया गया है।
यह मौत की कहानी नहीं है। यह ज़िंदगी की कहानी है। एक सादालौह इंसान की दमकती, हसीन ज़िंदगी की कहानी, जितनी साधारण, उतनी ही असाधारण। सफ़दर हाश्मी की कहानी।
वह नया साल था। साल 1989 का पहला दिन। दिल्ली के एक बाहरी इलाक़े में नुक्कड़ नाटक के परफ़ॉर्मेंस के दौरान जन नाट्य मंच यानी जनम के समूह पर हमला किया गया। सफ़दर जनम के इस समूह का नेतृत्व कर रहा था। उस हमले ने जब उसकी जान ली तब वह सिर्फ़ 34 साल का था।
दिल दहना देने वाले उस हमले – जिसने सफ़दर को मार डाला – के चित्रण के साथ इस किताब की शुरुआत होती है और हमारा परिचय एक ऐसे इंसान से कराती है, जो कलाकार था, कॉमरेड था, कवि-लेखक, अभिनेता था और एक ऐसा इंसान था जिसे सभी चाहते थे, जो सबका प्यारा था। लेकिन यह किसी एक इंसान या किसी एक दुखद घटना पर लिखी गई किताब नहीं है। हल्ला बोल यह बताती है और बेहद बारीक़ी से यह महसूस भी कराती है कि कैसे एक व्यक्ति की मौत और ज़िंदगी, तमाम दूसरे लोगों की कहानियों में गुंथी रहती है।
सफ़दर के बाद बड़ी हुई एक पूरी पीढ़ी के लिए हल्ला बोल एक खज़ाना है। ऐसी कहानियों और ब्यौरों से भरा खज़ाना जो उस दिलचस्प आदमी के जुनून, हास्य, और इंसानियत को एक अंतरंग पोर्ट्रेट के तौर पर आपके सामने नुमायां करती है। सब मिलकर विचारधारा और ज़िंदगी के संघर्ष को आपस में जोड़ने वाली एक मज़बूत कड़ी को सामने लाती है। सफ़दर और उसके साथियों ने जो संघर्ष किए, वह वर्तमान भारतीय समाज को राह दिखाने वाली मशाल है।
जनम का नाटक हल्ला बोल जो हमले के वक़्त झंडापुर में खेला जा रहा था, वह इस किताब में शामिल किया गया है।
280 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2020
23 people are currently reading
239 people want to read
About the author
Sudhanva Deshpande
6 books6 followersSudhanva Deshpande is a theatre director and actor. He joined Jana Natya Manch in 1987, and has acted in over 4,000 performances of over 80 plays. His articles and essays have appeared in The Drama Review, The Hindu, Frontline, Seminar, Economic and Political Weekly, Udbhavna, Samaj Prabodhan Patrika, among others. He has co-directed two films on the theatre legend Habib Tanvir and his company Naya Theatre. He is the editor of Theatre of the Streets: The Jana Natya Manch Experience (Janam 2007), and co-editor of Our Stage: Pleasures and Perils of Theatre Practice in India (Tulika 2008). He has held teaching positions at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Since 1998, he has been Managing Editor, LeftWord Books. He cycles around town.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 16, 2021
Before I marched into the MayDay bookstore earlier this year, I knew little about Safdar Hashmi (being oblivious to the world of theatre and also the world in general). I had heard a few people talking about this book and when I saw it in the store (LeftWord Books), I knew it was about time I read it. As a fresh, "first gen", self proclaimed socialist, this book has not only introduced a brilliant man to me, but provided me with a plethora of resources, ideas and writers to look up. I could barely stop crying while reading Part 1 of the book. Parts 2 and 3 were a wonderful read as not only did I get a very wholesome picture of Delhi and Delhi University in the 70s and 80s but also of the theatre scene in India during those decades. It was refreshing to read about so many actors from yesteryears and the bits about Om Puri and Zohra Segal were especially heart warming. Lastly, I am in love with this young bright man, with a big goofy grin, called Safdar Hashmi, extremely inspired by all that he did in his short life and have nothing but rage against systems that take such voices away from us.
June 8, 2025
The Immortal Life of a Rebel with a Cause
May Day in Delhi is now permanently associated in my mind with the May Day Bookstore situated here in the country’s capital. It’s a store run by LeftWord Books and managed by Sudhanva Deshpande, who’s an integral part of Jana Natya Manch (JANAM) – a street theatre company founded in 1973 by a group of Delhi's young and radical theatre artists, and among them roamed a man called Safdar Hashmi. Deshpande, a friend and comrade of Hashmi, has recounted Safdar’s extraordinary life and chilling death in his deeply humane biography – Halla Bol:The Death and Life of Safdar Hashmi.
Thirty-four-year-old Safdar was beaten to death in broad daylight in Jhandapur, a village in the industrial town of Sahibabad not far from Delhi. A trigger warning for the weak-hearted: he was hit over twenty times on his head with metal rods so brutally that when he was brought to the hospital his brain fluid was leaking out of his nose.
There’s a scene in Sudhir Mishra’s modern classic Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, in which a character states when you travel a hundred kilometres from New Delhi you actually travel a distance of a thousand years, that’s the kind of disparity there is between the two worlds. Every time I think about Safdar’s killing, it reminds me of that line in Mishra’s film.
Despite the blood-curdling cruelty at the heart of Halla Bol, Deshpande’s book is a testimony of hope and humanity, and a story of inconceivable courage in the face of hate. Safdar was attacked on the morning of 1 January 1989 while performing a street play called “Halla Bol”, and he died the next day on 2 January 1989. Less than forty-eight hours after his death, JANAM, led by his wife Mala, returned to perform “Halla Bol” at the very site of the attack. Safdar’s life and death wasn’t about heroism; it was a lesson in what it truly means to be the citizen of a democracy in this world. And Sudhanva’s moving, powerful book makes Hashmi and his ideals come alive once more.
May Day in Delhi is now permanently associated in my mind with the May Day Bookstore situated here in the country’s capital. It’s a store run by LeftWord Books and managed by Sudhanva Deshpande, who’s an integral part of Jana Natya Manch (JANAM) – a street theatre company founded in 1973 by a group of Delhi's young and radical theatre artists, and among them roamed a man called Safdar Hashmi. Deshpande, a friend and comrade of Hashmi, has recounted Safdar’s extraordinary life and chilling death in his deeply humane biography – Halla Bol:The Death and Life of Safdar Hashmi.
Thirty-four-year-old Safdar was beaten to death in broad daylight in Jhandapur, a village in the industrial town of Sahibabad not far from Delhi. A trigger warning for the weak-hearted: he was hit over twenty times on his head with metal rods so brutally that when he was brought to the hospital his brain fluid was leaking out of his nose.
There’s a scene in Sudhir Mishra’s modern classic Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, in which a character states when you travel a hundred kilometres from New Delhi you actually travel a distance of a thousand years, that’s the kind of disparity there is between the two worlds. Every time I think about Safdar’s killing, it reminds me of that line in Mishra’s film.
Despite the blood-curdling cruelty at the heart of Halla Bol, Deshpande’s book is a testimony of hope and humanity, and a story of inconceivable courage in the face of hate. Safdar was attacked on the morning of 1 January 1989 while performing a street play called “Halla Bol”, and he died the next day on 2 January 1989. Less than forty-eight hours after his death, JANAM, led by his wife Mala, returned to perform “Halla Bol” at the very site of the attack. Safdar’s life and death wasn’t about heroism; it was a lesson in what it truly means to be the citizen of a democracy in this world. And Sudhanva’s moving, powerful book makes Hashmi and his ideals come alive once more.
September 7, 2020
I took up this book with a lot of hope - as I grew up listening to Safdar Hashmi's stories from my parents. And I wasn't disappointed at all. As far as chronicling Hasmi's life goes, the book has done an excellent job. But that's about it. The first few chapters are gripping. But half-way around the book, it somewhat loses its humane charm and becomes preachy, with long notes from JANAM archives taken verbatim. Maybe it was an issue with the English translation. Thankful for including the play 'Halla Bol' at the end.
January 12, 2020
Loved the book. A perfect tribute to comrade Safdar Hashmi
July 2, 2020
One of the best works showcasing the uncelebrated life of a true revolutionary. Sudhvana Deshpande shares his experiences with Safdar Hashmi, creation of plays and particularly Janam.
August 22, 2024
I cried all through the despair as well as the joyous hope.
Read
January 28, 2021there are few people who have had impact in my life and one of the most prominent of them all is Safdar Hashmi, reading this was like going inside his mind and knowing what the man was all about, his ideas and revolution had an impact in the country. This book starts off very brutally and pragmatically but the second part feels a little unfocused and the pacing slowed down a little, third where it picked up again and ended very well, on addition to that the play was beautiful, lal salam to the beautiful man, may he rest in peace and respect to Janam and everyone involved in it.
March 31, 2020
Safdar Hashmi's image had attracted me ages ago so I was really excited that now I could find out more about him and Janam. Truly amazing. The energy and action they must have experienced comes alive on the pages.
April 8, 2020
A must read for everyone who loves social equality and the power of resistance
July 16, 2020
This book has left me full of hope. Which, in the current political and social scenario of India, is a wonder.
What more do you want out of a book?
What more do you want out of a book?
January 1, 2024
A stunning coincidence that I finished reading this marvellous book on 1st Jan - a day Janam commemorates as Safdar Hashmi Shahadat Diwas. The book held me in awe from beginning to end - what an incredible life. Safdar Hashmi’s story and the story of Janam is endlessly inspiring - the book is an antidote to the cynicism that lurks just below the surface for so many of us wearied by political turmoil and the desecration of the secular fabric of our country. But Halla Bol is a loud reminder that freedom is contingent on the people being its vociferous defenders. For anyone curious about the role of the performing arts in political activism (or where the two intersect), Halla bol is essential reading. It has left me hopeful that as long as the spirit of Safdar lives on, the fight for a humanist future continues. I hope I can carry this charged feeling into the new year.
April 12, 2021
Read this book a couple of months back. It made me become interested in a fundamental question. What motivates individuals to work for a “mission” that does not guarantee monetary returns? The answer lies in a 2013 book by theatre scholar Nicholas Ridout, Passionate Amateurs, is love.
Perhaps, Halla bol is more on life rather than death and is an excellent beginning for any artists or specially theatre artists / scholars to draw up a richer history of progressive theatre in Indian subcontinent.
Perhaps, Halla bol is more on life rather than death and is an excellent beginning for any artists or specially theatre artists / scholars to draw up a richer history of progressive theatre in Indian subcontinent.
November 30, 2024
i don’t think i can quantify the experience of reading this. an immense honour, really lt to be able to step in to the world of safdar hashmi, told so beautifully by his mentee. meeting sudhanva deshpande and interacting with him is an experience i will treasure, as is the experience of reading this book. culturally and politically rich, this book, apart from taking about safdar and the kind of life he lived, gives fresh perspectives on so many issues. i love the way s.d. weaves for us this world and gives us safdar hashmi, extraordinary in all his ordinaries, standing ovation.
February 3, 2024
To not have known about this Revolutionary until 2024. Brilliantly written. Even for a novice like me who has extremely narrow knowledge of work and impact of street theatre can see what we lost in 1989. He would have been a face of revolution we need in India now. What is personally sad for me is that I didn’t know of Safdar until now.
May 7, 2025
Halla Bol The death and life of Safdar hashmi
"You are alive, so trust in the triumph of life. If there is a heaven,somewhere then bring it to the earth "
A tribute to comrade safdar Hashmi who was killed by congress goons while performing a street drama in jhandhapur, Delhi . "Halla bol " script in the end of the book is more than enough to show us what safdar embodied.
"You are alive, so trust in the triumph of life. If there is a heaven,somewhere then bring it to the earth "
A tribute to comrade safdar Hashmi who was killed by congress goons while performing a street drama in jhandhapur, Delhi . "Halla bol " script in the end of the book is more than enough to show us what safdar embodied.
April 11, 2025
The middle chapters actually feel as if they were added just to stretch the number of pages.
Nevertheless, the book contains a good amount of information about his life and career.
Safdar Hashmi was indeed a great personality and a revolutionary figure in the field of theatre in India.
Nevertheless, the book contains a good amount of information about his life and career.
Safdar Hashmi was indeed a great personality and a revolutionary figure in the field of theatre in India.
January 20, 2020
EXCELLENT !
January 5, 2025
What a gift to this world.
Learning about Safdar Hashmi, the foundations of Janam, and CITU felt delicately intimate through this lens. I was moist-eyed by the time I reached the last page, overcome both by the strength this book taught me and feeling the lasting presence of all of the revolutionaries. Perfectly interlaced with critical standpoints that were new to me and I'd like to reference again
Learning about Safdar Hashmi, the foundations of Janam, and CITU felt delicately intimate through this lens. I was moist-eyed by the time I reached the last page, overcome both by the strength this book taught me and feeling the lasting presence of all of the revolutionaries. Perfectly interlaced with critical standpoints that were new to me and I'd like to reference again
January 20, 2025
Best book I've ever read. To see a Janam play by Safdar Hashmi in the 1970s will remain a dream forever.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews