Contentious Politics, State Repression and Civil Dissidence: The Discourse of Resistance in Utpal Dutt’s Nightmare City

Abstract

In the Post-Independence era, the prolific playwrights of India started using the aesthetic form of theater to contest authoritarian structures, and to voice their anti-establishment dissent. Utpal Dutt, a pioneering figure in Modern Indian Theater, used the medium of drama for propaganda and political conscientization of the oppressed. The indefatigable thespian contributed significantly towards the formation of modern Bengali theater, as his plays voiced his intransigent protest against the authoritarian government and concurrently, showed his impressive experimentation with different dramatic techniques, theatrical devices and theatrical genres. Dutt’s anti-establishment play, Nightmare City presents a fastidious account of the turbulent years of late-1960s and early-1970s Bengal gripped by Naxalite violence and police brutalism. Set against the backdrop of Naxalite insurgency, the play savagely exposes the ideological hypocrisy of the autocratic government leaders of the time and their violent hooliganism. However, the playwright, in sync with his earlier plays, has not only portrayed the tumultuous socio-political ambiance of the 70s Calcutta, but has also constructed a soul-shattering voice of resistance to the political oppressions perpetuated by the state apparatuses. The objective of this paper is to study the revolutionary propaganda of Dutt and redefine his concept of “political theater” with special reference to his intricately structured political satire, Nightmare City.