Konkani dream pulls Telugu star to tiatr

PANAJI: One glance at the beautiful and glamorous Ester Noronha and it is clear she belongs in the role of a female lead in a commercial Indian film. It is difficult to believe that after starring in a hit Telugu film, Noronha has chosen to perform in a stage form like tiatr, which has a far smaller audience reach than a Tollywood film.
But her reason for performing in Mariano Fernandes’ tiatr ‘Goem, Goenkar, Goenkarponn’ is clear — Konkani.
“Since India’s independence, the number of languages spoken in this country have come down from over a 1,000 to around 700. We are next. Many may think it is a myth. But it is not. I don’t even want to think what will happen 70 years from now. I am scared,” said Noronha.
Like any other mother tongue is to its speaker, Konkani was a natural part of her life since childhood. In fact, Noronha was a celebrity among Konkani speaking Mangaloreans from the age of nine, when she captured their hearts as a singer. But, it is when she entered the Telugu film industry that the sorry state of her mother tongue struck her.
“I was asked if I am a Telugu girl, and when I said I was a Konkani speaker, I would be asked, ‘Konkani? What language is that?’ Every time I had to spend around half an hour explaining that Konkani is spoken by people on the entire coastal belt from Maharashtra to Kasargod. I could not believe that Indians themselves did not know about this Indian language,” said Noronha, speaking to TOI at Benaulim, hours before her tiatr show.
These experiences left a deep scar on Noronha, who eventually decided that film is the medium that has a reach that can unite the entire Konkani speaking population across the world in a short time.
She and her mother set up the Janet Productions, which produced the film ‘Sophia’, where care was taken to use Konkani words that speakers of the language could identify across the various dialects. Noronha says that to get Konkani speakers to patronise Konkani films, one has to bring in utmost professionalism in their making.
Janet Productions has made it its mission to produce Konkani films, where Konkani-speaking film professionals spread across film industries of other languages collaborate to upgrade the standard of Konkani films.
“The Konkani films and nataks being made now are amateurish and the youngsters don’t want to identify with them. They laugh at them. That is because we have not taken it to the next level, which can only be done by bringing in professionalism in our films and drama. We should realise that our youngsters are watching Hindi and English films and are comparing the Konkani films to those standards,” said Noronha, who has also lent her voice to the song ‘Meu Amor’ in the national award winning film ‘Nachom-ia Kumpasar’.
Her dream she says is to see a Konkani film have a single release across theatres like films of other languages get.
“When I agreed to work in a tiatr, I was told that it doesn’t look good for an actress like me to work in tiatr, which has a much smaller reach. But I think no stage is small for an artiste. At the same time, we need to upgrade the standard of Konkani dramas. I am told that tiatr is a 200-year-old art. But does that mean we are going to hug it for another 200 years without any changes? When I perform for shows or Konkani musical shows across the world, I see no youngsters in the audience,” said Noronha.
She said that a good Konkani film will draw a larger audience and in the long run it will create an industry that can give a large number of Konkani speakers employment locally.
“The minute Konkani speakers leave their native place, they stop speaking the language. You take so much from the soil you are brought up in, you cannot just abandon it. We don’t realise that it will lead to big problems for us in the future. If you migrate to America, you will always be an Indian American or Goan American. Your identity cannot be a Hindi-speaking Goan community,” said Noronha.