How audiences in Delhi reacted to ‘Om Swaha’, a 1979 feminist street play about dowry deaths

Each performance of Om Swaha, one of India’s first feminist street plays staged in 1979, was different. At the busy Patel Chowk roundabout in central Delhi, a number of men, mostly government employees, saw the play. Afterwards they dispersed, without much discussion, sharing of thoughts or experiences. At another show, performed at a workers’ meeting in Hissar, Haryana, the male audience was very responsive. The workers, and sympathisers such as Dilip Simeon, had invited the group to perform. There was a huge shamiana that housed a large gathering. The actors travelled there in a bus, and performed the play. Afterwards, the workers talked a lot, said that protests should be built up around dowry and domestic violence, and that such plays should be performed.

The play was performed in Mehrauli for farm workers, quarry workers, and their families. It fitted in well with the Mazdoor Mela organised by the Dilli Dehat Mazdoor Sangh, an independent union with which Primila Lewis, Renuka Mishra, Manmohan Dayal and Gita Sahgal were deeply involved. Action India put up an exhibition at the Mazdoor Mela called Aurat ka Chamatkar, on women’s health and reproductive rights. With almost all union members being men, there was a need to raise questions about women’s...

Read more