IIT Bombay: IIT Bombay Cancels Makarand Deshpande’s Plays Due to Lack of Permissions | Mumbai News

Mumbai: The performance of two plays – ‘Sir Sir Sarla‘ and ‘Siachen‘ – directed by actor, writer, and director Makarand Deshpande, scheduled for IIT-Bombay’s dramatics club’s TheatreFest on Oc 29 and 30, was cancelled a day before the event. While a few students complained against staging both plays, stating that they would cause ‘discomfort’ among the campus community, the institute administration mentioned that the club did not take prior permission for holding the event. This came close on the heels of the cancellation of a Dastangoi (a medieval form of storytelling) performance by ‘Peepli Live’ co-director Mahmood Farooqui last week.
Fourthwall, the dramatics club of the institute, was to showcase both plays during the festival, one of which is considered to be a long-running, popular, and well-received play directed by Deshpande. A student said that Deshpande’s plays were showcased at least twice in the past on the campus, and the cancellation of the event, allegedly after a section of students opposed it, is appalling. The student mentioned that the organisers got permission from the artists after pursuing them since May and eventually got their confirmation in early October. From the institute, however, three permissions are required, but the organisers seemed to have taken only two – security and venue permissions, and the artists’ performing permission was not, said another student.
An institute official said that there is a process for the conduct of events on the campus and the organisers did not follow it. “The students came to seek permission a day before the performance. If they approached on time, and if the institute found it suitable, it would have been allowed. We have not denied it entirely. There is a committee to evaluate permissions for all events, and permissions have to be sought a month or two in advance,” said the official.
The complaint letter mentioned that in ‘Siachen’, the portrayal of the “Indian Army soldier as a coward and showing his wife having an illicit relationship is deeply troubling” and in the other play, ‘Sir Sir Sarla’, “an illicit relationship between a professor and his student raises questions about the ethical boundaries in educational institutions.” Another section of students, however, claimed that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the play. “Theatre festivals are meant to showcase a variety of art forms, and art should remain art and it should not be mixed with politics,” a student said.