Radheshyam Kathavachak was a prominent writer in Parsi theatre. He was born in Bareilly, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in 1890. Born into a family of traditional storytellers i.e. kathavachah who performed episodes from myths and epics to earn a living. He was initiated into the art from his early childhood. He drew upon his hereditary predisposition and recomposed Tulsidas`s reworking of the Ramayana as Radheshyam Ramayan in verse. This became very popular among later exponents of the oral tradition. An increasing taste for sentiment, largely because of the emerging middle class, had taken root and the Radheshyam Ramayan answered this need by setting the epic characters in more or less realistic if oversimplified situations, in which good invariably triumphed over evil.
Life in Theatre for Radheshyam Kathavachak
Radheshyam Kathavachak has enough influence on mythological cinema, down to television drama versions of the epics. Ramanand Sagar`s Ramayan during 1986-8 drew heavily upon the Radheshyam Ramayan and Radheshyam`s later plays. He chose to write these in pure Hindi language as opposed to Urdu, thus segregating common cultural legacies for expressively ideological, even chauvinistic purposes. He joined the New Alfred Theatrical Company as their resident dramatist and instructor in acting. His scripts for them included Vir Abhimanyu i.e. "Heroic Abhimanyu" in 1914, Shravan Kumar in 1916, Bharatmata i.e. `Mother India` in 1918, Bhakta Prahlad i.e. "Prahlad the Devotee" in 1920, Sri Krishnavtar i.e. `Avatar Krishna` in 1926, Mashriqui hur i.e. "Eastern Houri" in 1926, and Rukmini mangal i.e. "Kukmini`s Marriage" in 1927. The dramatized Ramayan, Vir Abhimanyu, and Bhakta Prahlad were, widely acclaimed. The printed books became bestsellers. Mashriqui hur, in the style of a romance, was one of the few texts Radheshyam composed in Urdu language.
His autobiography Mera natak kal i.e. "My Theatre Days" in 1957 is a remarkable portrayal of early-twentieth-century professional theatre. His own Radheshyam Press published his writings, whose low-cost editions reached a mass audience. He also worked briefly for Madan Theatres as scenarist and lyricist, composing songs for the hit film Jhansi ki Rani i.e. `The Tiger and the Flame` in 1953. This was a historical spectacle on the Rani Laxmi Bai (Rani of Jhansi) directed by former Parsi-theatre actor Sohrab Merwanji Modi.
