The story of theatre group Samudaya is incomplete without delving into the years leading up to its birth. The group introduced street plays to diverse communities, using drama to deliver social messages. Every story of Samudaya’s origins starts in the 1970s — a decade charged with revolutionary energy.

In Karnataka, the ’70s were marked by then-chief minister Devaraj Urs’ successful implementation of the Land Reforms Act, his minister B Basavalingappa losing power for criticising upper-caste domination in literature (he called the writing ‘boosa’, or cattle feed), and the birth of the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (DSS). It was also in this decade that prime minister Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency. Samudaya was born in this context — as a direct reaction to the changing political climate.

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