Natrani in amphitheatre drama

Tina Parekh / TNN / Dec 22, 2005, 14:52 IST

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Apart from the new amphitheatre, a road has been designed which will come up right in front of Natrani.

AHMEDABAD: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's plan to construct an amphitheatre a stone's throw from danseuse Mallika Sarabhai's own amphitheatre has set tongues wagging. The proposed 2,000-seater theatre is part of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project.
Sources close to the Sarabhais feel the construction planned around Natrani might have something to do with her filing a PIL with Digant Oza and Indukumar Jani in the Supreme Court demanding a CBI probe into the Gujarat government's role in the post Godhra riots.
Apart from the new amphitheatre, a road has been designed which will come up right in front of Natrani. Local artistes say this is likely to ruin not just its ambience but also its acoustics. But SRFDP sources say: "No one theatre has the sole right to host cultural performances."
...Mallika Sarabhai says she should have been consulted before the project developers started construction around Natrani. "Natrani is our gift to the people of this state. We are entitled to being informed about plans that might affect it. We could have even been consulted."

"Any performance space like Natrani should not be disturbed. The government must be sensitive towards any public or private initiative which promotes art and culture," says convenor of Fade-In theatre group Saumya Joshi. Artiste Amit Ambalal too feels Natrani's ambience should not be disturbed.
But Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited officials say the amphitheatre, which "might" come up on the riverfront, will only complement existing ones. "We haven't even firmed up our plan to construct an amphitheatre," says SRFDCL chairman Anil Mukim.

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