Daughters’ tribute to their legendary father

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 4

Thespian Gursharan Singh’s house in Sector 43, Chandigarh, where he spent the last 30 years of his life, will now be open to public. It has been turned into a museum and a gallery of Punjab’s revolutionary performing arts. It was inaugurated by his wife Kailash Kaur on Thursday amid a large number of cultural activists and artistes.

Gursharan Singh, who belonged to Amritsar, moved to Chandigarh during the peak of militancy in Punjab in the late 1980s. Besides photographs of the dramatist and his troupe, the house will display manuscripts and books penned by him and issues of the magazines “Samta” and “Sardal” which he launched. Gursharan Singh authored close to 200 plays published in 17 books and seven collected volumes. The study and bedroom of the writer have been preserved as these were in his last days.

Besides being a theatre actor and director, Gursharan Singh launched several young writers — short story writer Waryam Singh Sandhu and poets Pash, Surjit Patar and Sant Ram Udasi by publishing their works through Balraj Sahni Yadgari Parkashan in the early 1970s. The museum will also have some rare editions of books written by these authors.

The playwright’s daughters — Dr Areet Kaur, an eye surgeon, and Navsharan Kaur, an economist — conceived the idea to convert the house into a museum. Dr Areet said when her father started theatre, he opted for elaborate sets and cast. “But over the years, he realised this did not help him to reach the masses. So he shed the elite elements and focused on theatre for the poor. We want this place to tell the story of Gursharan Singh’s evolution as an artiste.”

His pupils Shabdeesh and Anita will be the museum caretakers.

Began theatre in 1958

• Gursharan Singh began theatre in 1958 and founded Amritsar Natak Kala Kendra in 1964
• Since the early 1970s, he performed in Punjab villages with 150 performances in a year 
• Recepient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1993) and Kalidas Samman (2004), he died in Sept 2011