Who is known as the 'Shakespeare of Bhojpuri'?

Explanation

Bhikhari Thakur (1887-1971) was a folk playwright, poet, actor, singer and social reformer from the Saran district of Bihar. He is called the "Shakespeare of Bhojpuri" because of his great contribution to Bhojpuri theatre and literature. The writer Rahul Sankrityayan is often credited with giving him this title.

Bhikhari Thakur was born into a family of barbers in the village of Qutubpur in Saran district. He had very little formal education and worked as a barber in Kharagpur and Kolkata for some time. In the cities, he saw the life of migrant workers and the theatre of Bengal, which inspired him to start his own theatre company. He wrote, directed and acted in plays in the Bhojpuri language, which ordinary people could easily understand. His most famous play is "Bidesia" (the one who goes abroad), which tells the story of a man who leaves his wife and village to work in the city and the pain of the wife left behind. The play gave its name to a whole style of folk theatre, called Bidesia. His other plays, such as "Beti Bechwa" (about the selling of daughters in marriage), "Gabarghichor" and "Bhai Birodh", dealt with social evils such as child marriage, the dowry system, alcoholism and the problems of migration. His plays combined song, dance, humour and drama, and they were very popular in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Vidyapati was a 14th and 15th century Maithili poet, known for his love songs about Radha and Krishna.
• ✗Phanishwar Nath Renu was a Hindi novelist, known for his novel "Maila Aanchal".
• ✗Ramdhari Singh Dinkar was a Hindi poet, known as the "Rashtrakavi", and author of "Urvashi" and "Rashmirathi".