Marathi Sangeet Natak and the Affirmation of Hindu Nationalist Cultural Politics in Western India

Marathi sangeet natak (literally, Marathi musical play) is an elite musical theatre genre from the Marathi-speaking western region of India. The narrative development in Marathi sangeet natak advances through songs based on Hindustani music performed by actors with live musical accompaniment. This genre became a significant marker of the newly emerging urban middle-class in nineteenth-century British India. While plays traversed mythological, reformist, social and political themes (both, regressive and progressive) over decades, this article argues that Marathi sangeet natak ratified right-wing Hindu nationalist politics: the dominant cultural trajectory in the region till date. While many contemporary attempts to revive sangeet natak may seem progressive (with the claim of saving tradition), this genre distinctly resonates with right-wing Hindu nationalism, mobilised in the project of music's modernisation in early twentieth century. This article draws on audio-visual material on sangeet natak in the Felix van Lamsweerde collection (particularly, a performance from 1999 in Amsterdam) to then look at the reasons why Marathi sangeet natak went on to represent a world musical theatre tradition, thereby securing its place in a postcolonial sound archive of India. Through a re-examination of history, then, it sheds light on the landscape of Marathi theatre at large while analysing the caste, class and gender dynamics that shaped the culture in this region. It ultimately contextualises Marathi sangeet natak and its varied manifestations today given the upsurge of right-wing autocratic political forces.