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Dalvi, Godse's Defender, Writes Off India

Aseem Chhabra in New York

After years of fighting the legal and political systems in his country, controversial Marathi playwright Pradeep Dalvi has decided that his play on Nathuram Godse, which was shown this weekend in New York City in a new avatar, will never be shown in India. He also feels a movie version he is planning won't get past Indian censors.

"India, I have written off. Now I am aiming at the NRIs," Dalvi said in an interview at Manhattan's Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse auditorium, a few hours before the world premiere of Nathuram Godse: An Experience.

The play was sponsored by a New York-based organization, the Indo-American Arts Council, as a part of a four-day event focusing on different aspects of the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Titled Perspectives of Gandhi, the program also featured the screening of Shyam Benegal's film, The Making of Mahatma, the staging of Feroz Khan's play, Mahatma vs Gandhi and a panel discussion at Columbia University.

"Nathuram Godse, I think, will never appear on stage or in film in India," Dalvi said.

He referred to Indian politicians as "idol-worshipers" who had "declared Gandhi a saint", adding that they did not "want to see the other side of the coin".

Later, during the question-answer session after the play, Dalvi said Gandhi would have been forgotten in independent India, had it not been for the Congress. "Gandhi is the only currency the Congress has," he said. "They have been saving Gandhi for over 50 years."

In announcing his new focus, the non-resident Indians, Dalvi said that he hoped that this group would share the problems of India.

"NRIs have been a little bit aloof from India," he said, adding that he wanted them to be aware of their roots. "They should never forget that they are still Indians. Though they are non-residents, but they are Indians ultimately. They should never forget the 'I' of NRI. If they forget the 'I,' then they are forgetting themselves."

In an attempt to win audiences outside India, Dalvi said he plans to take his new play to South Africa, Dubai, Mauritius and Canada. This November, he has invitations to stage the play in Houston and San Francisco.

Of course, all of this depends on whether Dalvi, and his cast and crew would ever be allowed to leave India. Upon his arrival in New York last week he learnt that the Bombay police had issued a warrant for his arrest. The warrant was based on a complaint filed by an old supporter of Mahatma Gandhi -- Usha Mehta. Dalvi referred to her as "the only surviving disciple of Gandhi" in India.

Dalvi said he had anticipated problems before and after he left India for New York. Fearing an arrest warrant, he even got anticipatory bail before leaving India. He says he knew Mehta and her supporters would try and stop him before he boarded the plane from India.

For that reason, he spread the word that he and his performers were planning to leave India on October 2. Instead, he said, he "sneaked" out of India on September 29, "on an official visa and an official passport".

Despite the pressures, the 47-year old playwright finds humor in the situation.

"That is the joke of it," he said. "They can't even extradite Nadeem [part of the Nadeem-Shravan composing duo] who is wanted for murder [of music magnate Gulshan Kumar]. But they are trying to do it with Pradeep Dalvi."

For over two years the Indian government has been unsuccessfully trying to extradite composer Nadeem Saifi from England for his alleged involvement in Kumar's murder in August 1997. Dalvi said the more his foes push him into a corner, the more obstinate he becomes.

"They are making me stubborn," he says. "The more I try to fight back, the more I become, as an individual, closer to Nathuram, the more I understand him as a person. Otherwise, he was just a character, a hero of my play. I have written 27 plays, but I have not fallen in love with my 27 heroes."

In trying to understand Godse's motivations for assassinating Gandhi, Dalvi came to the realization that "India again needs Nathuram, since today there are a lot of Gandhis." He asserted that Godse was a nationalist and his now infamous act was justified.

"Democracy comes later, the idea of nationalism comes first," he said. "I am a man from literature. I write plays, novels and television serials. Tomorrow I might pick up the gun and shot somebody, for the sake of the nation. Everybody must have that feeling. Nothing wrong with it. We need Nathurams. That is what we lack in Indian politics."

He added that while Gandhi had to be credited with India's independence, his theory on non-violence had been misinterpreted.

"There was too much non-violence by Gandhi," Dalvi said. "Gandhi was a great man, there was no doubt about it. But there was a need to eliminate him."

When Dalvi sought the removal of the ban on his play, he argued that it was a matter of his freedom of speech. During the interview he said he supported Salman Rushdie's freedom of speech because he was a Muslim writer whose book, Satanic Verses, dealt with Islamic issues.

"I appreciate Salman Rushdie's guts. The difference is that I do not support Shabana Azmi and Yusuf Khan -- I call him Yusuf Khan and not Dilip Kumar," he said. "See, if I want to write about unmarried mothers, I will write about Kunti and not the Virgin Mary. Otherwise, the Christians will be shouting and I cannot claim freedom of expression."

"Now Shabana Azmi and Yusuf Khan, they are writing on Hindu culture," he said. "Why they are not writing about Muslim culture? Because they are afraid of becoming Salman Rushdies. Why did they take Hindu characters [ in the film Fire]? Why didn't they take [names like] Salma and Shabana?

"Now [painter M F] Husain will paint pictures of Sita. You paint pictures of Fatima, then talk about freedom of expression," he said. "I have not yet met Husain, but the moment I will meet him, the moment I will come directly face-to-face with him, I will slap him," he promises.

When Dalvi was reminded that Fire was written and directed by the Indian-Canadian and film-maker Deepa Mehta who was born Hindu, he changed tack.

"This brings me back to the issue of NRIs. There is new trend developing among NRIs," he said. "They try to paint Indian poverty, they want to find faults in Indian culture, in Indian religion and make money out of it."

Dalvi claimed that India was no longer poor, that it was a nation that could challenge the US.

"We have got a prime minister who can tell Bill Clinton, 'Mr Clinton, nothing doing. Kargil is our own issue. I won't come for talks." India is no more poor. India is no more weak."

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