To attract the new generation of theatre buffs among the Urdu-speaking community, for whom Urdu theatre is just a vague idea of the past.
Urdu theatre has a very rich tradition, and its artistes, playwrights, and other constituents formed the backbone of what is now known as the Bombay film industry, among other things. Unfortunately, no Urdu organisation, despite their stated mandate of promoting Urdu culture, has ever considered establishing a theatre repertoire until the Anjuman did so in 2019. It is all the more necessary, as Urdu drama is currently part of the syllabus for Urdu literature in BA and MA programmes. However, even students pursuing a PhD in Urdu on drama-related topics have little idea about its theatre. This fact, though surprising, is true: those who study Urdu or teach theatre in higher education rarely attend the theatre. Drama is not something whose ethos can be understood without practising it. It is for this reason that all the dramas included in the syllabus of Urdu cannot be performed on stage, as their writers were not playwrights and have not written for the stage.
Anjuman’s repertoire provides training to the young generation based on stage-friendly versions of plays written in Urdu.
