User:Punjabson

Dr. HARCHARAN SINGH, was a popular playwright, formerly the Head of Punjabi Dept., Punjabi University, Patiala and at present is president of KALMA DA KAFLA. He was also Ex-Chairman of Punjab Arts Council. Since 1937 he had devoted 65 years of his life in the promotion of Punjabi Theatre and Drama. He wrote his first play Kamla Kumari in 1937, which was staged at Amritsar on January 21st and 22nd in 1938. The same play was produced and directed by him in his village Urapar, (Distt. Jalandhar) with the cast of teenage schoolboys, in August 1938. He himself performed the main role in that play. He established Punjab Art Theatre at Lahore in 1939 and popularized theatrical activities in Punjab. He initiated a trend in Punjabi theatre with his wife Dharam Kaur who dared to act female role in his play Anjore, staged at YMCA Hall Lahore in 1939. Thus she paved the way for women on Punjabi stage. Harcharan Singh authored of 52 books in Punjabi-26 of them are full-length plays, 10 collection of one-act-plays, 3 books of short stories, 3 books are of critical literary essays etc. He was an authority on Sikh historical plays. His well known historical plays are-Chamkaur Di Garhi, Punian Da Chan, Jag Chanan Hoa, Jafarnama, Sarhand Di Kandh, Hind Di Chadar, Rani Jindan, Kama Gata Maru, Shubh Karman Te Kabh Hoon Na Taron. The play Chamkaur Di Garhi was first staged on the occasion of the tercentenary birth celebration of Shri Guru Gobind Singh at famous Sunmukh Nanda Auditorium, Bombay in December 1966. For the last 38 years, different theatrical groups are staging this plays in India and abroad. Six of his plays have been translated in Hindi and one in Russian. About a dozen of his books have won awards. His noted play “Kal Aj Te Bhalak” (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) had got prestigious Bhartiya Sahitya Academy Award in 1973. He was honored by Punjab Govt. as Shromani Sahitkar in 1974. Besides these decorations he was honored by more than a dozen national and international institutions. The feature film Sarvans Dani Guru Gobind Singh was based on his famous play Chamkaur Di Garhi. This play was also staged in Vancouver and Toronto (Canada) in 1974. His historical play Rani Jindan was performed by Punjabi Kala Kendra Chandigarh in 20 big cities of Canada and USA in 1981. He had visited a number of countries. In 1958 he attended Afro-Asian Writers Conference held at Tashkent (Russia). He toured UK, Canada and USA twelve times since 1974. He was a delegate to the Third World Punjabi Conference held at Bangkok (Thailand) in 1983, where his play Kama Gata Maru was staged. He has just finished his collection of poetry. Currently he was engaged in writing two plays, one in English “An Oasis in Western Hemisphere”and second “Sikh Itehas da Teesra Ghalughara”. Harcharan Singh wrote the scripts of Bole So Nihal, (a world famous multimedia Sight & Sound Panorama on 500 years of Sikh History, specially produced for the Birth of Khalsa celebrations,) Sher-e-Punjab (a multimedia Sight & Sound Panorama on 40 glorious years of Khalsa Raj) and Guru Maneo Granth, (another mega multi-media sight & sound panorama dedicated to the 400th centenary of the Prakash of Sri Guru Granth Sahib). These shows have been shown in 35 big cities of Punjab and India besides in 24 major cities of USA, Canada and UK since 1999.