Mohammad Subhan Bhagat was born in the year 1927. He was a Kashmiri dramatist, director, and actor who remained the most influential force in reviving the flagging tradition of the folk form of Kashmiri theatre called Bandi Pethir. Born in a family of such performers, he received training from Ustad Kamal Bhagat and soon excelled in Bandi. He inherited the famous Bandi repertory at Akingam that had a long and respectable history before he reorganized and equipped it with new masks, costumes, and other stage paraphernalia compatible with modern times. He retrieved many Pethirs that had descended from the remote past to the present through oral tradition and performance. He composed original songs to use as interludes in the readymade plays based on hackneyed dialogue and programmed action.
Mohammad Subhan Bhagat was a versatile player of the double-reed shehnai He knew all the ragas of Kashmiri folk music. Using shehnai along with other accoutrement like drums and bell-girdles, he made the dance episodes entertaining as well as communicative. Besides performing in every village and town of the Valley, Bhagat performed in several major cities of the country and abroad, winning prestigious awards and titles. His collected drama is titled Taqdir i.e. `Fate`, while Bandi jashan i.e. `Bandi Fete` and Kishur luki theatre i.e. `Kashmiri Folk Theatre are two anthologies of folk plays that he edited with detailed introductions. His essays on the art of Bandi Pethir are expository and disquisitional. He will be remembered as the foremost Kashmiri folk-theatre actor, and an exploiter of dramaturgy for socio-political satire. This artist died in the year 1993.
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