Habib Tanvir sporting a warm smile; Source: Outlook India

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Habib Ahmed Khan was born in the September of 1923 to Hafiz Ahmed Khan of Raipur. After spending most of his childhood and adolescence studying in Raipur and attending college in Nagpur, Habib ended up at Aligarh Muslim University to complete his master's degree.

> He changed his name to Habib Tanvir after he began writing poetry in AMU.

Mumbai came calling after his college days were over and he began working with All India Radio as a producer while working jobs on the side like songwriting and acting. Very soon, however, the charm of theatre enchanted him and he joined Indian Peoples’ Theatre Association and the Progressive Writers Association.

When he thought he had nothing left to learn in Mumbai, he moved back to Delhi in 1954 to begin working on his own productions. Habib wanted to do something different from what was already present in the theatre industry.

> Tanvir briefly studied at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in England, but indigenous people, their lives and their culture had more bearing on his work than his time in England.

He noticed that the imprint of Europeans on Indian Theatre still loomed large and represented a disservice to the rich vein of indigenous culture that suffered in silence. Habib wanted his work to touch people's lives and that is exactly what he set out to do.

His first production called Agra Bazaar was a breath of fresh air. An anti-thesis of what was the order of the day in Indian Theatre, it immediately caught people's eye. The cast was a mixed bag- some were professionals and others were residents of Okhla, some were educated and others weren't, some were rich and the others, poor. In this diverse group of people, Habib saw the potential to break the confines of traditional theatre.

> Agra Bazar, for the first time, took place in an actual bazaar instead of a theatre.

Word on the street (pun intended) was that there was a game-changer among their midst. Agra Bazaari was meant as a tribute to 18th century Urdu poet Nazir Akbarabadi. In Nazir, he saw a shadow of himself; much like Habib, he too wrote in a style that disregarded the norms of his time.

Habib worked in many productions after Agra Bazaar- Jis Lahore Ni Dekhya, Charandas Chor, Gaon Naam Sasural Mor Naam Damaad, and all of them were a learning curve for the next play. The ability to confront his mistakes and make them the strengths of his next venture made him the man he is. On this day in 2009, Habib Tanvir left the world after a life worth of work that enriched Indian Theatre. Even in his absence, he continues to live amongst us through his art.

Between Agra Bazaar and Hirma ki Amar Kahani, Habib Tanvir managed to rid theatre in India of its Eurocentrism, making the world and theatre a better and inclusive space that was suited to the realities of the laity.