Premchand, still alive

Munshi Premchand’s Hori was not very different from Mariya Barela, a 50-year-old farmer from Madhya Pradesh. Hori, the peasant protagonist from the Hindi writer’s widely read novel Godaan, died grappling under a burden of debt, like the MP farmer, who took his life last month besieged by loans he could not repay.

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On the occasion of the much-loved author’s 137th birth anniversary tomorrow, Premchand aficionados recall how the themes of his work, as traditional as they were contemporary, continue to resonate 80 years after his death.

“Premchand will be relevant as long as human attitude, which is universal, remains the same,” said Jameel Gulrays, founder of Katha Kathan, an initiative that seeks to celebrate regional literature.

To mark the anniversary, the organisation will host dramatised readings of his works here. One of the foremost Hindustani writers of the early 20th century, Premchand authored over 300 short stories, 14 novels and several essays, letters and plays. Highly influenced by Rabindranath Tagore, who underscored the common man, Premchand took the tradition forward by turning what could have been supporting characters into heroes. Every story that he wrote was a reflection of society, and researchers hold that his characters were all based on people he had met. His stories — such as Bair ka Anth, Sadgati and Bade Ghar ki Beti — explored subjects such as family disputes, relationships and the deeply entrenched caste system, issues that are as relevant today as they were when the works were penned.

Not surprisingly, director-actor M K Raina called Premchand an “alive writer”. While his style of writing belonged to an earlier era, his themes were much ahead of his time, Raina said. “His analysis of situations was almost as if a humanist and political scientist combined into one was looking at the situation in rural India,” he said.

Hori is considered one of the best literary representations of rural India, a recurrent theme in the writings of Premchand, whose real name was Dhanpat Rai.” The sad part is that rural India is where it was,” the theatre director said. — PTI