Smita Bharti is an Indian social activist, playwright and director. She has written and directed over 20 plays with communities spanning social, class and age strata. Through research, training, workshops, performances, campaigns and publications, she works extensively and intensively with women and adolescents in difficult and challenging circumstances, in prisons with victims under trial, with survivors in situations of domestic violence, sexual abuse and incest, physically and mentally challenged individuals. She also works with the policy and decision makers who have the potential of making systemic change in the country.
Early life and education
Bharti was born in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh in 1964 to Nirmal and Agya Ram Kshetrapal. She did her schooling at Auckland School Shimla where she was introduced to the world of theatre at the age of 5, reading several original three-act comedy plays housed at the Gaiety Theatre, Shimla. A voracious reader and a loner, books were her companions that fuelled her imagination, gave her comfort, held her aching heart, provided frameworks to interpret relationships, examine experiences, and interrogate structures.
In 1982, Bharti moved to Delhi where she received her bachelor's degree in Literature and Psychology from University of Delhi in 1985. She received her Master of Arts degree in Literature from the Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu in 1987. Bharti's life took a turn when she realised that the domestic violence she had suffered after her marriage wasn't her identity, that she had to transcend the barriers and scars to go beyond the personal. In 1995, she embarked on a journey towards a better life as a single parent of two.
Theatre
Since 2000, Bharti has engaged people in the art of storytelling and role playing that enable re-scripting of personal narratives to arrive at action points that lead to sustainable social & behaviour change and peace building. Bharti has written and directed over 20 plays, worked on films, video installations, interactive exhibitions and audio books She has been a programme consultant to Sanskriti Museums and The Asian Heritage Foundation.
In 2004, Bharti led a project in Tihar Jail in Delhi as part of a project with WISCOMP. Beyond Silences: Docu-Theatre in Jail & Outside entailed a series of theatre workshops in jail and outside, designed to explore human rights issues on both sides of the wall. Using skilful creative methods, participants were encouraged to become co-explorers, question internalised norms, engage in a process of self-expression, and make critical choices. A unique co-production between jail inmates and college students was mounted in the jail in December 2004. The project also gave way to a theatrical play Jailbirds which explored the journey of a woman near the end of her 14-year jail term for killing her abusive husband.
In 2005, Bharti founded the Hungry Heart Festival at the India Habitat Centre to explore contemporary lifestyles and personal relationships through theatre. Some of her plays are As the Sun Sets, Walk Once More, 45”35”55”, Single Mingle, Rubaru: Raj Kapoor in Russia, Rooh ka Ghar, Blind Date, Nun and the prostitute, Jailbrds, Miss Blossom Callahan Patialewalli. In 2013, she wrote and directed Jug Jug Jiyo which went on to win the UNFPA Laadli Media Award for Best Play.
Social Change and Justice
In 1995, Bharti started working with Sakshi a pioneering rights-based NGO co-founded by Naina Kapur and Jasjit Purewal where she worked with women who had been through domestic violence and sexual abuse. She began working on altering systemic responses to inequality through creative interventions that focus on behavioural change. She officially took over the organisation as Executive Director in 2007. Since then, she has spearheaded several systemic interventions, campaigns, social artistry and communication for development projects.
Sakshi’s effort over two decades, finally materialised after the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, resulting in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. Bharti along with founder, Kapur spearheaded many national level consultations to ensure that the legislation is placed under the equality umbrella and upkeeps the progressive aspects of Vishaka Guidelines, which was a result of Kapur's landmark Public Interest Litigation, Vishakha and others v State of Rajasthan.