Thespians dropped from theatre fest

KOLKATA: Nothing comes without a controversy in Bengal even it is a government-sponsored theatre festival. It revolves around two prominent thespians, Koushik Sen and Suman Mukhopadhyay, who have been dropped from this year's festival beginning in the city on Sunday. Natya Academy, the organizer, decided to keep them out of this festival stoking the "us and they" debate at a time when these two thespians have come up as the dissenting voice.
"When this government assumed office in 2011, the festival was organized by the new committee. A committee member Satya Bhadhuri had requested me to stage 'Sei Sumouli'. I was asked to perform the play in the festival at Madhusudan Mancha. I was eager, but ultimately was forced to say no since they revealed that tickets will be not be sold. They were paying us negligible amount which I had no objection with. I thought that one can pay me lesser but should not distribute free tickets. I made it clear to the organizers last time. But there has been no change in policy," said thespian Koushik Sen.
Suman Mukhopadhyay also raised the issue. "The money offered for stage production is paltry. In my case, I didn't decline performing. I was asked to showcase my production - Bisharjan last year. It is an expensive production and didn't fit the festival budget. I had mentioned that it was not possible for me to stage the production with so little money. The same thing happened during the Left rule. Saying this, I would also like to add that I do not agree to all the things which are going on at the moment. Certain people are being deliberately avoided in the festival," he said.
Theatre director Debesh Chattopadhyay, one of the organizers of the Natya Mela, refuted the charge. "Tickets are not sold during festivals. This was the norm during the Left rule. We didn't amend it. Koushik Sen is aware of it," said Chattopadhyay. He said that the budget this time has been increased to Rs 45 lakh, nearly double the budget last year. Chattopadhyay also pointed out that group theatre survives on government subsidy. "Group theatres get hall bookings at concessional rates that others don't. Seldom does the production cost is realized by selling tickets. The Natya Mela committee didn't invite Koushik Sen because he declined to perform if the policy isn't changed," Chattaopadhyay said.