Brij Mohan Shah was director, actor and a renowned dramatist of Hindi theatre. He was born in the year 1933 and educated in Nainital, Uttarakhand. He entered theatre at the age of 7, doing small roles for Ramlila and visiting Parsi theatre companies.
Early Life of Brij Mohan Shah
He founded a dramatic association at college in 1953, and wrote and produced one-act shows that won awards in intercollegiate and all-India competitions. He earned his master`s degree in geography in 1957 and eventually enrolled at the National School of Drama (NSD). There he specialized in production. After receiving his diploma in 1962, Brij Mohan Shah, the eminent Hindi theatre personality joined Little Theatre Group in Delhi. In 1964, along with B. V. Karanth and J. N. Kaushal, he founded Rangmanch. This cultural institution staged his college play Postgraduate, directed by Karanth, and his first full-length drama, Algoza i.e. "Double-reed Flute".
Career of Brij Mohan Shah
Brij Mohan Shah got a job at St. Columba`s School as a teacher, doing plays there and for amateur groups like the pioneering Dishantar, formed by NSD alumni in 1967. In 1969, he developed Postgraduate into Trishanku for Rangmanch, and directed it. This play created a sensation by its themes of class chaos and unemployment and its radically informal and environmental style, becoming a landmark in Hindi theatre. It was revived in Kannada, Tamil, and Marathi as well. Brij Mohan Shah, the Hindi theatre directed made many plays for the Little Theatre Group Repertory from 1972 to 1975, relishing the comic mode in Beckett`s Godot Ke Intezar Mein or "Waiting for Godot". The other names can be mentioned as Goldoni`s Do Kishtiyon Ke Sawar i.e. "Servant of Two Masters" and Sarai Ki Malkin i.e. "Mistress of the Inn".
He was appointed as visiting professor at the NSD in 1974 and became a full-time professor of acting and direction in 1980. Finally he became the Director during 1982-4. He produced several plays for the NSD and its repertory. They included Vijay Tendulkar`s Sakharam Binder in 1975 and Ghashiram Kotwal in 1981, Radheshyam Kathavachak`s Abhimanyu in 1980 and Mashriqui Bur i.e. "Eastern Houri" in 1987, and Krishna Sobti`s novel Mitro Marjani i.e. "Damned Mitro" in 1988 dramatized by him. Because of his childhood experience, he had a natural flair for Parsi theatre.
Later Life of Brij Mohan Shah
For Dishantar, Shah Brij Mohan Shah wrote and directed the anti-war Yuddhaman i.e. "War Mentality`. This was premiered by Kalamandir in Gwalior in 1975 and Shay, Yeh Maat i.e. "Check, CheckMate" in 1987. This was based on individuals dreams destroyed, and translated Western plays into Hindi. Brij Mohan Shah designed sets, and acted in films and for television as well.
Brij Mohan Shah died in 1998.
