This year, ‘Hindi Diwas’ fell on a Sunday and there are quiet celebrations in the following week celebrated as ‘Hindi week’. Unlike Telugu, which is seeing a slow decline in usage among youngsters, Hindi has its share of speakers with several regional variations.
If ‘Hyderabadi Hindi’ has a major influence of Urdu, ‘Mumbayya Hindi’ has a different slang to it. Natives of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar again speak Hindi differently. This however should be no cause for worry or strife. “Hindi speakers of different regions should not be rigid that their Hindi is only ‘shudh’ Hindi,” exclaims renowned theatre personality Prof. Bhaskar Shewalkar. As an ace theatre director, he has been associated with Hindi and Marathi theatre and has also directed Telugu plays.
Change the mindset “There is a certain kind of warmth when you speak Hindi. It is a mixture of languages and the language has gracefully accepted the entry of other language words in its fold. I have seen many youngsters writing Hindi in Roman script and trying to learn it. Instead of appreciating it, there are some who believe, “ Hum jo bolte hain wohi Hindi hai .’ This attitude has to change. A language can be successful only when a layman is able to enjoy it,” he says.
Hindi theatre in Hyderabad occupies a special place in Hyderabad’s theatre scenario.
Amidst a plethora of Telugu and English productions, Hindi natak makes its presence frequently on stage, thanks to the admirers and connoisseurs of Hindi theatre and active Hindi theatre groups.
Saurabh Gharipurikar , founder of Udaan theatre group that has staged 20 productions in Hindi to date says theatre is a strong medium to spread the language. In his acting workshops, youngsters also learn the correct pronunciation. “We begin with ‘barakhadi’, the Hindi alphabet so that youngsters can pronounce correctly especially words like ‘Khabar’ ‘Khat’ and ‘Khali’,” he says.
Sunjit Rao, a participant at Udaan’s workshops is a Telugu by birth but knows Hyderabadi Hindi well. “Since I am an actor, I wanted to get a hold on every language. When one says words individually, there is no issue but when saying a sentence, the pronunciation goes haywire,” he says.
This engineering student-turned-actor talks about the word ‘gadha’ which gave him a tough time. “I would stress on ‘ga’ instead of ‘dha’ and had to work hard to improve it,” he says with a smile.
Following the Hindi path is Pathkatha , a poetic play in Hindi to be staged by KissaGo on September 19. Avdhesh Jha of KissaGo is an avid Hindi lover pursuing his Ph.D in Hindi and hopes to make a mark through this debut by their group. “A story is being narrated with the help of poetry,” he says.
When in Hyderabad, speak in Hyderabadi Hindi believes Chandrika Deshpande, a Kannadiga travel agent working in Mumbai. When she comes to the city to meet her sisters, her conversations are peppered with ‘hau’ and ‘nakko’. “Colleagues laugh when I say ‘hau’ in Mumbai. Then I switch to Mumbaiyya Hindi,” she smiles.
Offering his point of view is ace theatre personality Vinay Varma of Sutradhar Theatre Group. “The concept of ‘Hindi Diwas’ is a big sham. Our appeasing political gentry, after Independence, found a day September 14 (the day I made my theatre debut in 1980) to be celebrated as one. And our Hindi lovers fell for the idea, without realising that they’re paying shraddhanjali to Hindi on its demise every year. I’ve never seen any other language day being celebrated in our country. During my recent trip to London, I never came across anything in the calendar that’s celebrated as English Day. Nor does my little international knowledge suggests that there’s a Japanese Day, Chinese Day, Urdu Day, German Day or French Day in their respective countries,” he states and asks, “So, what we are doing every year on Hindi Day/Hindi Week is flogging a dead horse. The government’s Hindi work is a white elephant, and I know it as I have been a Hindi officer in a nationalised bank for four years.” However, he is clearly excited when he talks about the Hindi plays his theatre group has performed in the city. “My experience in doing plays in Hyderabad has been awesome to say the least. I’ve seen it grow over the years, so that’s been thrilling,” he enthuses.
In Hyderabad, is it more of Hyderabadi Hindi in the plays? “No comments about the language we use in the plays; our audience has always been very composite. Our purpose is to choose that connect and hence the language that we use. You could call it Hindustani, Urdu, Hindi, English. There’s a dialect that we call as Hyderabadi, which is a part of a larger dialect Deccani. One of our most popular plays Biryani Aur Haleem has been in Hyderabadi, performed over 35 shows,” says Varma.
Shewalkar ends with a parting shot: “Like Mahatma Gandhi said, “Speak in Hindustani, it is a mix of all languages.”
