A group of men gathered at a theatre event. At the centre, Swadesh Deepak, wearing a white shawl and brown trousers, smiles warmly while shaking hands with a man in a striped shirt and jeans. Another man in a white shirt and blue jeans stands nearby, applauding. A few actors in military uniforms and casual clothes stand in the background, also clapping.
Swadesh Deepak (centre) after the Asmita Theatre Group’s performance of ‘Court Martial’, directed by Arvind Gaur. One of his most critically acclaimed works, the play gripped audiences with its probing interrogation of the grand ideas of truth and justice.Photo courtesy: Sukant Deepak
Culture

Searching for Swadesh Deepak in Hindi literature

Two new translations recall the lasting legacy of the Hindi playwright Swadesh Deepak, who disappeared in 2006 but whose critique of power in India remains prescient
Kinshuk Gupta

Kinshuk Gupta (he/they) is the author of Yeh Dil Hai Ki Chor Darwaja, which flung Hindi literature’s doors open to queer desire. He lives in Delhi with Dyostovesky, lilies and Byron’s quiet conviction that one must move among the world – always in it, yet never of it.

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I FIRST ENCOUNTERED Swadesh Deepak – the playwright and icon of Hindi literature, known for his hyperrealist stories – through his Sankalit Kahaniyan, a collection of short stories published by the National Book Trust, an Indian state-owned publishing house. It came in an off-white cover with a spiny-tailed green beast printed on it, and was given to me by my dadi – my paternal grandmother. Not quite as a gift but more to be rid of it. She had read the collection on the first day after her knee replacement, when the effects of the anaesthesia hadn’t worn off, and consuming all the stories in one quick gulp had filled her with a dread that her legs would never move again.

Back then, I hadn’t started writing, and my reading list was heavily influenced by the Western canon. But Deepak’s stark and succinct stories drew me in with their hypnotic charm.

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India
literature
Hindi
Himal Southasian
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