Vinta Nanda visits Nadira Babbar ahead of Ekjute’s landmark launch of eighteen published plays written by her, exploring her theatre legacy, creative process, collaborators, and hopes for Hindi theatre’s future through an intimate conversation at home.

On 23rd February 2026, Ekjute Theatre Group in Mumbai will host an evening, presented by Aslam Lashkaria Foundation, of rare cultural significance: the formal launch of eighteen published plays by Nadira Zaheer Babbar—actor, director, playwright, and founder of the iconic theatre group Ekjute.

For over four decades, Nadira Babbar has stood as one of the most formidable pillars of contemporary Indian theatre, sustaining and nurturing the Hindi stage in a city where it once struggled to find space amid dominant English and Marathi theatre circuits. Through Ekjute, she built not merely a theatre company but a vibrant creative ecosystem—one that welcomed emerging actors and seasoned performers alike, many of whom went on to shape Indian cinema, television, and theatre.

Her rehearsal rooms have long functioned as laboratories of performance, grounded in social realities yet accessible to diverse audiences. Over the years, she has mentored and collaborated with an extraordinary range of artists—among them Anupam and Kirron Kher, Satish Kaushik, Juuhi Babbar, Anup Soni, and many others—while consistently centring human stories, especially those of women and marginalised communities.

The publication of her collected plays by Vani Prakashan now brings into print a body of work that has lived, breathed, and evolved on stage for nearly three decades, preserving an important chapter of Hindi dramatic literature for future practitioners and scholars.

An Evening of Celebration

The launch evening at Prithvi Theatre will include readings and performances of selected scenes by distinguished actors such as Sarita Joshi, Ashish Vidyarthi, Aarya Babbar, Sumeet Vyas, Yashpal Sharma, Vibha Chhibber, and Utkarsh Mazumdar, alongside an exhibition of archival stills, book displays, and audience interactions.

More than a book launch, the event marks the celebration of a movement—of a lifetime devoted to theatre as a living, collective art.

It was in the midst of preparations for this landmark moment that I visited Nadira Babbar at her home—also the bustling nerve centre of Ekjute—to speak with her about the journey of these plays, the act of revisiting them, and the legacy she continues to build.

At Home With Nadira Babbar

I arrived at Nadira Zaheer Babbar’s home to the sound of music before I even rang the bell. From somewhere above, a harmonium breathed gently, accompanied by her unmistakable voice—rich, disciplined, and utterly immersed. When the door opened and I stepped in, I found her seated beside her Guruji, practicing a classical bandish with the dedication of a young student rather than a theatre legend of decades. It was a moment of rare intimacy: Nadira Babbar, playwright, director, and Hindi theatre icon, not on stage but in riyaaz, surrendering to the rigour that has defined her life.

Outside and below, however, serenity gave way to controlled chaos. The five-storey building that houses her residence and the offices of Ekjute—her theatre group of many decades—was alive with activity. Phones rang. Voices travelled up stairwells. Footsteps moved briskly between floors. At the centre of it all was Hanif Patni, her trusted colleague and collaborator of many years, leading the Ekjute team as they coordinated the final details for what promised to be a landmark moment: the release of eighteen of Nadira Babbar’s plays on 23rd February 2026 in Mumbai.

Eighteen Plays, Three Decades

When we finally sat down to talk, I began with the obvious question: what was happening on the 23rd?

“Thank you, Vinta, that you have asked me this,” she said, her eyes lighting up with a mixture of excitement and quiet pride. “The 23rd is going to be a very important day in our lives.”

Over the years, Nadira Babbar has written extensively for the stage—comedies, thrillers, tragedies, and plays for children that have travelled across cities and audiences. Eighteen of these plays are now being brought together in published form. “I have written eighteen plays,” she told me. “Out of which four or five have already been printed. The rest are being published now. All my plays—comedies and thrillers and tragedies and children’s plays—are coming out as books.”

Her first play, Dayashankar Ki Diary, was written in 1997. Nearly three decades of writing and staging later, the decision to publish them all together feels both timely and overdue. “I have been wanting to get them published for long,” she admitted with a laugh. “But somehow everything got delayed. I was busy with my productions…karte karte so many years passed.”

A Gift to the Theatre Community

Publishing the plays now, however, is not merely an act of archiving. It is, in her words, an offering to the theatre community. She hopes that theatre groups—especially those with limited resources—will find in these scripts something they can mount and reinterpret. “If a play has a smaller cast, it will definitely be chosen,” she said thoughtfully. “Theatre people always have problems of finding actors, or finding money, or finding the resources of doing plays. And scripts.”

What she is placing before the world, then, is not just a body of work but a living repertoire. “Yes,” she said when I described it as such, “and also the opportunity for people to understand that these plays are there and they can take any of them. It is up to them to choose whichever they like.”

Revisiting Memory and Craft

Among the eighteen, one stands out for its extraordinary reach. Bombay Meri Jaan, she told me, has crossed scores of performances. The numbers hang in the air like an impossible statistic, yet it is entirely believable when one considers the endurance of her theatre practice. Alongside it are thrillers, comedies, and plays written specifically for children—an area she feels is especially important for the future of theatre.

For Hindi theatre, this large-scale publication of a single playwright’s body of work is rare. I told her as much. While many playwrights exist, their works are seldom published in such comprehensive form. She agreed, though modestly. “There are many playwrights…some published, most not. Maybe these eighteen plays will make a difference to Hindi theatre and young theatre practitioners will take them up and reinterpret them in their own ways. I have done so many adaptations myself over the years. It is as difficult as writing an original play.”

The process of returning to scripts written and staged over decades could not have been easy. I asked her what it felt like to revisit them, to read herself across time. Her face softened. “I feel very nice, very happy. Very grateful for my team who worked with me regularly—helping me to select and rewrite, to go through the scripts.” She mentioned Hanif Patni first, then Mishraji and Manav Pande—names that form the backbone of Ekjute’s long journey with her.

Reliving the plays, she said, brought back a flood of memories. Yet, like most writers, she found herself dissatisfied with her own work. “Every time I read my work I feel inadequate,” she confessed with disarming honesty. “As if I could make it better. That happens with every writer, I suppose. But this gave me an opportunity to brush up my own originals. It always happens.”

A Legacy Already Written, Still Growing

I could not resist asking her how she would describe herself if she were not Nadira Babbar the playwright, but a towering theatre figure looking at this body of work from a distance. Without missing a beat, she responded, “Excellent.” Then came that impish, infectious laugh that has always been so uniquely hers. “And brilliant. Original.”

It was impossible not to laugh with her. Beneath the humour, however, lay a clear awareness of what she has built. “You do understand that you’ve built a legacy,” I said gently.

“Yes,” she replied simply. “I have already left a legacy.”

And yet she is far from done. There are new plays being written—among them Sonu Monu, which she mentioned with the enthusiasm of someone still hungry to create. The future, for her, is not a retrospective but an ongoing rehearsal.

The Future of Theatre

Before we concluded, she turned her attention to the audience—the invisible yet constant partner in her journey. “My dear audience,” she said warmly, “I love you. And I hope the plays which are being printed—you will buy these books. It is very important to buy good books and keep them in your bookshelves.”

I asked her one final question: how would she feel if young people, or theatre groups from different cultures, reinterpreted her plays radically—perhaps even altering them?

“I would love it,” she said immediately. “I have no ego issues. People may want to reinterpret or change things. Young people may do them totally differently—radically differently. But the story remains the story. Sensitivity towards theatre is most important. Theatre is one of the most powerful mediums. We all must try to make it like that.”

And what, I asked, is the future of theatre?

“Brilliant,” she said with quiet certainty. “It should be.”  

Power And Responsibility, Leadership Under Lens, Influence Examined, Authority And Accountability, Public Figures In Focus, Power Structures, Who Holds Power, Decision Makers, Legacy And Impact,