SATISH MEHTA

Satish Mehta, a theater enthusiast, has been performing, acting, directing Hindi Theater for over 50 years. In 1976 Satish Mehta along with his wife Ms. Jyotsna Mehta formed a theater group ‘Prayog’. The first play staged by Prayog was ‘Doosara Darwaja’. Prayog never looked back since then. Over the years, Prayog became one of the most prominent Hindi theater groups and expanded as far as USA. It has staged over 1000 performances of 90 full length plays, till date.

Unique in format and presentation, Prayog’s plays seek to throw light on social and political issues. Satish Mehta constantly strives to bring a fresh viewpoint. According to him, our main aim is to address social anomalies and shortcomings. Satish Mehta is inspired by the the work of great revolutionary German theater personality Bertolt Brecht. Yet, Satish Mehta has developed his own unique style of Theater. He believes that Brecht derived the ideas of symbolism from the east, primarily India, China and Japan. That is the why Satish Mehta takes many elements from the folk traditions of Indian theater and fuses them with the modern trends of theater to come up with his own unique style.

Well-known theater actor Ms. Jyotsna Mehta has been an integral part of Satish Mehta’s Theater Journey. The remarkable factor in the plays performed by Prayog is variety in form and presentation. Prayog has brought plays in Folk style with dominance of music and dance as in plays like Dulari Bai, Bakri and Jadugar Jungle; hilarious comedies like Saiyan Bhaye Kotwal, Langdi Tang, Sharafat teri to and Bad-Bad Saavitri; Political and Social satires like Andhon Ka Hathi, Natak Nahin and Ala Afasar; Social plays like Pratibimb, Mansukh Lal, Hastakshar; Period plays like Jis Lahore nahi dekhya, Ek aur Dronacharya; Mythological plays like Kandhe par baitha tha Shrap; and Psycho-physical plays like Bhoma.

Prayog has always aimed to bring meaningful theater to audience and while doing so broken new grounds with street plays, like Julus, Samarath ko nahi dosh gusai, Bharat Ke Lal, Kargil Ke Sher etc. These were all performed to spread social and political awareness within common men. The theme of these plays have been patriotism, non-violence, national integration, communal harmony and other social causes. These street plays attracted a large number of people on streets and conveyed message easily and directly to them. Satish Mehta has directed these plays with his brilliant original style.

Prayog has presented its plays in several cities and towns across entire India successfully. Prayog has established a unique name in the field of theater and continues to rise to greater heights.