By Esha Chaudhuri
A performer in front and behind the scenes, Kismat Bano is among this year’s recipients of the ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ Award 2020 in the field of theatre and acting. A forerunner as Northeast’s pride last month, Sunday Shillong unravels Bano’s individualistic path as a creative artist in her performative journey.
The announcement of the Awardees’ list was made by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama and the apex body of the performing arts in the country in November 2022, clearing the backlog for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Within three years into the grind, Bano, who hails from Guwahati, Assam has acted in over 20 plays in 
English, Assamese and Hindi. Some of these include Julius Caesar, The Green Serpent, King Lear in English, Soch and Prakriti in Hindi, and Aakaas, PotasaraTheNude, Madyhyabartin and Jatra in Assamese.
As an actor, she has also acted at different festivals including the Nepal International theatre festival, 
Dhaka International Theatre Festival UNESCO ,Nandikar, Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Rang Pratibha Sangeet Natak Academy, Kalakshetra Chennai, Octave Festival (Goa and Rajasthan) at Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival, Bikaner Theatre Festival, Jairangam, Poorvatar National School of Drama (NSD), Narirmancha, and Nupi Festival.
For a cause
With the reservoir of talent and end goal for a cause, a dynamic Bano established her own 
theatre troupe ‘Wings Theatre’ in Guwahati in 2016. Initially, the focus was exclusively on regular performances with adults that was later expanded to working with the visually and hearing impaired, and survivors of violence from the Northeast.
Taking this a notch higher, the theatre troupe also launched a Mini Theatre Studio Hall in 2018. “The mini theatre hall is located at my residence to train children in Guwahati who have an inclination towards the art of acting and theatre with a capacity of 75. This initiative has helped raise awareness 
about theatre by staging plays.”
Wings Theatre studio has been established with a view to use theatre in education for children, conducting theatre performance-oriented workshops for children’s and working with visually impaired children of Guwahati to promote theatre.
In collaboration with Sangeet Natak Akademi Wings had conducted successfully a 90 days theatre workshop in North East for the visually and hearing impaired.
From different remote areas from Northeast, there were 30 youths have successfully completed the course and performed the play.
“I have been associated with the visually impaired children for the last 3 years at Basista,which organises Theatre workshops for them”, says Bano.
For her dedication towards the disabled community, Bano also received a fellowship from the Ministry of Culture 
Government of India for a research programme in theatre with visually impaired children.
Questioned on why the cause of the visually impaired stands close to her, Bano says, “simply put, there are lots of theatre workshops for children every summer vacation, but the children whom I work with, don’t get any such workshop to partake in and their schools nor do they, possess the means. So, if my art is making a 
difference in their lives and creating opportunities for blind people to venture into the theatre, I think of it as an achievement.”
“The other reason I’m close to them is because I have learnt to find happiness in smaller things and express gratitude in life for what we have.” she adds.
“I have been performing with her (Kismat) since 2010 at various theatre acts and other cultural events. Even 
though I am visually impaired, she has guided and encouraged me and even helps us get dressed before performances and takes on all the added responsibilities. When we make mistakes, instead of scolding us, she calmly makes us understand our mistakes and helps us rectify them. She has never treated me differently for my disability and has helped me get through tough times.” says Purabi Talukdar who previously worked as a librarian at the blind school and is a survivor of violence and is also visually impaired.
Blind School graduate, Rajdeep Dakwa who is presently pursuing a diploma in elementary education says, “I met Kismat Baa (sister) during my college days when she started an acting school and began imparting training in drama and acrobats. We’ve acted and helped in many plays, which has been appreciated by many. This has been a huge opportunity and a liberating experience for my friends and I.”
Bano’s theatre troupe, with her spearheading the reigns has scripted, acted and directed plays such as Helen(based on the autobiography of Helen Keller), Puhor and Xopon (with visually and hearing impaired children and adults of Guwahati school for the Blinds supported by Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi) where the 
playwright and direction was supervised by Bano.
Some wins, many lessons
As the story trajectory builds, many struggles and pitfalls are found on the journey. Admittedly, Bano speaks of her personal struggles, where she admits to have faced a number of setbacks on account of being a woman, as the roadblocks are endless. Citing instances from her lived experiences, Bano narrates, “As a woman, my toughest hurdle has always been self-doubt as well as doubt that is entitled by external sources, whether personally and/or professionally.”
“It is common to see women, on the personal front, endlessly prove themselves about their abilities and strengths. So, I too, had to prove to my family that I can survive and can take theatre professionally. It was only after watching several plays of mine and after receiving the scholarship from the Ministry of culture that my father, who is otherwise a strict man, 
granted permission to pursue my dream of acting. As times change, now my father selects and suggests story lines for my plays” she describes.
She further adds, “Professionally, when I would go to perform at festivals, the organisers would express their doubts initially saying I’m too young and would even have reservations about my capability of performing at prestigious platforms.”
However, what Bano has absorbed over the years is that irrespective of life’s curveballs, one must strive to manoeuvre them as they come. Early on, an extroverted Bano learned the importance of getting out there and being relentless in her pursuit for excellence.
“It’s an easy feeling left behind in life because one is a woman, but that’s exactly where we as women must break such barriers in our own heads, first”, she points out.
Living by the motto ‘If there’s a will then there is a way’, Bano personifies the idea of hope, through a myriad of ways making her a thespian par execellence.
The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar is an award given to artists below the age of 40 and was introduced in the year 2006 with the objective of identifying and encouraging outstanding young talents in diverse fields of performing arts and honouring them with national recognition for greater commitment and dedication in their chosen fields. The awards cover a range of fields such as dance, music, drama and acting.