Theatre artists should promote Indian culture by joining educational institutions: Prasanna
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The provision of making theatre compulsory in the new education policy is limited to papers only: Prasanna
Indore (Team Newsbuddy): It was a big mistake of IPTA to remain a small part of small leftist parties. IPTA should not only become the voice of protest, but should become the voice of friendship, only then it will be able to move forward. There is a provision of making theatre compulsory in the new education policy, but it is not being implemented.
These things were said by Prasanna, President of Bharatiya Jan Natya Sangh, IPTA, playwright, director, former director of NSD and writer, in a face-to-face program organized by State Press Club, Madhya Pradesh. He said that some people want IPTA to always remain the voice of protest, whereas it should become the voice of friendship. Prasanna also considers being associated with leftist parties as a mistake of IPTA. In his view, IPTA is a nation-building unit. He seems to be hurt somewhere by the fact that theatre artists go to films and TV and settle down there. Prasanna, who has been the theatre guru of famous actors like Irrfan Khan and Pankaj Tripathi, says that artists like Naseeruddin Shah should not be seated in the temple of theatre, artists like Surekha Sikri and Uttara Baokar should be seated there who have enriched theatre with their complete dedication. He has no objection to these artists but cinema should not be considered a drama.
According to Prasanna, the support of the audience is most important for the drama to be established as an independent genre. Regarding the new generation of theatre artists moving away from theatre after some time, he explains their lack of patience and dedication and reminds that Mallikarjun Mansoor was considered a great artist at the age of 68 and for the next 18 years he only celebrated his art. He believes that a livelihood can be earned from theatre. For this, it is necessary that theatre artists join educational institutions by taking a contract or fee and tell the schools that we will teach your students the culture of India. Today, the students of India know a useless English poem like ‘Baba Baba Black Sheep’ but do not know Kabir, Tukaram, Nirala. There are many flaws in the new education policy but one good thing in it is that theatre has been given a compulsory place in school education and even in teacher training programs like B.Ed. If this is implemented on the ground and theatre artists start doing educational theatre, then the new generation will also have knowledge of Indian culture and theatre artists will also be able to earn a livelihood from theatre. To earn money, theatre artists occasionally go to films or TV for a short period and then return from there and get back to theatre work again.
Prasanna expresses his displeasure by accusing the cultural institutions of the country of not doing anything for the culture of regional languages. According to him, the Hindi institutions take the major part of the cultural budget of the country and other regional languages and other dialects of Hindi remain neglected. He asks what did the National School of Drama (NSD) do for the theatres of Bengali, Punjabi, Oriya etc.? He is unable to answer the question as to why there is a dearth of new good plays especially in Hindi and plays written years ago are still being performed today. He believes that one possible reason for this is that good writers are being drawn away by films and TV. Giving the example of Ranjit Kapoor, he says that then the writer is neither here nor there. He says that theatre is a natural medium, one has to physically present a person in front of another person. Drama teaches expressions, language, emotions. In a film, one person becomes Amitabh Bachchan and countless others remain as extras. According to Prasanna, it is important to keep drama alive to protect the culture of the country. In the first phase of the program, State Press Club, Madhya Pradesh President Praveen Kumar Khariwal welcomed Prasanna with Ang Vastram. Journalist and cultural activist Alok Bajpai asked Prasanna questions on the current direction of theatre in India. Madhya Pradesh Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh President Vineet Tiwari and journalist Pankaj Kshirsagar presented him a memento. A large number of theatre artists and culture lovers were present to listen to the interesting question-answer session with Prasanna and the fact that the hall of Abhinav Kala Samaj was completely full was a statement of the growing enthusiasm for the drama genre in the city. Prasanna praised the State Press Club wholeheartedly for organizing this level of event and said that at one time such events used to take place in the press clubs of the country, but now such aware and sensitive press clubs are almost non-existent.
