By Kareena Kapoor

Transcribed in July 2018 during the author's Modlingua internship, from Ravi Kumar's Modlingua Live talk about a Nukkad Natak (street play) he came across at Connaught Place, New Delhi.

Source video: The SECRET to Creating an UNFORGETTABLE Street Play - Modlingua Live

A Street Play at Connaught Place

Hi friends, a very good evening to you all. Yesterday we had our tea networking party with our interns at Connaught Place, New Delhi. There, in front of the restaurant where we had our meeting, I came across a Nukkad Natak being played. It attracted me and I went to see what was going on, and I noticed quite an interesting thing happening.

There were some street players trying to convey a message to the crowd very effectively, doing role-playing and giving commentaries, making use of drums, dhol and tamasha, and people were listening to them very carefully. There were quite a good number of citizen journalists taking videos, making films, commenting, sharing - and that interested me a lot.

So I thought, let me also make a clip of it and share with you the importance of Nukkad Natak. Let's first watch this play, and then I will tell you how much importance it has in our society.

[Music - the play clip]

The Message of the Play

In this clip you notice quite a good number of people watching the street play, and the actors trying to reach out to people by shouting, making drum noise, and at the same time acting. What are they saying, time and again? "Bharat Mata ki Jai", "Bharat Mata ki Jai."

The idea is that they are trying to impress upon people that only saying "Bharat Mata ki Jai" is not enough - you can't do all sorts of stupid things by simply saying "Bharat Mata ki Jai". So this is a kind of sarcasm aimed at all those so-called nationalists who are only making noise with "Bharat Mata ki Jai" while doing nothing, or looting society, or creating nuisance in the life of the common citizen.

"Bharat Mata ki Jai" has a great value, and that value relates to being patriotic and doing something great and good for society. In the name of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" we cannot create a society in which we create nuisance and cause harm to the common masses. That was the message being conveyed by this group of actors through Nukkad Natak to common people.

What Makes a Successful Nukkad Natak

You notice there are certain key points in making a successful Nukkad Natak. Number one: you should have a theme. Number two: you should be loud enough. You should play it in a place where you can easily attract a good number of people, and it is always good to target age groups that will listen to you and have interest in your activities. It is also good to have people around who appreciate it, who take photos and videos and create a buzz on social media. If we combine all these factors - a good street play, a good story, a loud voice, good actors, a good crowd, and out of that crowd a good number of citizen journalists - it can create quite an impact on society.

That is what Nukkad Natak is. I am sure you have come across this kind of performance not only in India but across the globe, because it is one of the most popular forms of drama. It helps us connect with people directly, because we are instantly conveying our message and instantly receiving feedback and response from the people around. It is done on the street, and it helps in connecting with the masses.

Thanks for watching. If you have something of this sort and you want to share it with us, we will be happy to receive it, make it presentable and make it live on our channel. Do subscribe to the Modlingua channel on YouTube.