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Introduction
to Broadcasting
MCM411
VU
LESSON
14
RADIODRAMA
I
Drama in
literature is as old as
mostother story-telling
formslike novels and
shortstories are;
whenShakespeare
wrote Romeo andJuliet
and enthralled theaudience
to pave the
wayfor
classicalwritings
in this form, he was not
the pioneer of this genre of
literature.Drama;
writing
story
in dialogue form,
wasalready existing,
thoughlittle known. Then
cameothers, felt
the
livelinessand
vibrancy in this form of
communication and worked to
further this part of
literature.
Oneprime
reason for thepopularity of
stage hasalways been
the dramasexpressed with
all
vitalityand
ferocity throughcharacters
some timesdominating and at
otherssubduing. When
radiowas
introduced in the start of
last century, stagedramas
had already come to age
and
wereone
top entertainment forthe
common people. Radiodramas
actually picked
thethread
fromtheaters
and gave it a dimension
never imaginedeven by the
top playwrightsbefore.
In
thesubcontinent,
the theatersechoed plays of
Agha Hasharkashmiri who
had a specialknack
in
dialogue writing. SyedImtiaz
Ali Taj, andKrishn
Chandr were notmuch
behind. In factthere
were
a number of writers engaged in
drama writing.
It
immediately drew
attentionwhen radio came
intobeing. Apart from
musicand
announcements/news,
radio stations startedmaking
dramas to build up their
audience. But
radioinherited
drama from stageand
for years it was a replica
of stage dramas,which
was
heard
on radios. We must see
howthe stage drama
wasbefore the broadcasting
mode of
communication.
StageDramas
It
was 1840 when a merchant F
Cowasjee in Bombay desired to
open a theatre. He
was
allowed
to do so in 1846 when
alongwith him Jamshedjee
andjeejabhoy founded
subcontinent'sfirst
theatre named GrandRoad
Theatre. For long it staged
English plays. In
1853Parsee
Natak Mandli cameinto
being and gotpopularity
for staging over a 1000
shows
of
a play, uttejak mandli, a
satire, comic and reflection
on various aspects of
sociallife. It also
worked
as a breakthrough to bring
thedrama to
middleclasses.
DadabhaiSorabji
Patel staged a musical urdu
play earlylast century -
Benazir babremunir.
ButIndrasabah
by Agha HasanAmanat Ali at
the darbar of oudh Lacnow in
1885 was a
landmarksuccess
already.
Fromtranslations
stage broughtdrama to
vernacular- hindi,urdu,
Bengali andGujarati.
It
flourished more in
Bombay.Agha hashr Kashmir's
Kashmir ki kali and yahudi
ki larki,and
thenrustom
o suhraab were topranking
stage performances.Performers
usually spokeloudly
to
enable back-seaters to
listendialogues. Top playwrights
anddirectors
includedpremchand,
raambabu
saksena, saadat hasanminto,
krishn chandr, ahmedshah
bokhari andN.M.
Rashid.The
dialogues wereinterwoven
with songs,verses, and
dances.
EarlyRadio
Dramas
Thesame
set off playwrightalso
wrote plays forradio
when it came to India in
1926. First in
Bombayand
then in Lahore,Peshawar,
Delhi and afterpartition to
Karachi,
Rawalpindiand
Hyderabad.Early
days radio dramaswere
loud and morelike
stage plays. Thencame
people
likeRafi
Peerzada and Z A Bokhari who
worked day in and day
out to convertstage plays
look
radioplays.
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Introduction
to Broadcasting
MCM411
VU
Newwriting
techniques anddialogue
delivery withimmense voice
control in speech
were
introduced.
By the time
secondgeneration of writers
cameAgha Nasir, Kamal
AhmedRizvi,
AshfaaqAhmed,
radio had come to age in
Pakistan. Hamidmian
kay haan,
andlegend
TalqeenShah
reverberated in
the airs of subcontinent
notfor weeks or months
butdecades.
In
between so much
experimentswere carried out
on dramasthat it has become
a story in
itself.
Ethics
No
immoral dialogue. No humiliation of
any segment of society. No
blasphemous
storieseven
notagainst
government policies.But to
create harmony andexpose
hypocrisy.
Classification
Verysoon
it was realized thatevery
drama did notattract
every one. In
themeantime
audienceanalysis
approach wasintroduced and
on the basis of research,
listenerswere
categorized.Now
there were separatedramas
for children,military
personals, farmersand
ruralpeople,
urban aristocraticclass and
one as forgeneral public. In
anotherway radio
dramaswere
classified as historical,translations,
romantic (mostlistened
category),war-time,
and
on social life
mainlyshowing bad
charactersgetting
defeated.
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