Want culture, won't pay

Speak of entertainment and Nagpurians readily spend long evenings and wads of cash at watering holes. The multiplexes too get their share of footfalls. It is different story with live performances, be it theatre or concerts that continue to get a step-motherly treatment by the so-called patrons of art and culture in the city.
Event managers and organizers are constantly trying to raise the bar in terms of quality of events and level of artists but repeatedly hitting the cost hurdle.The lack of willingness of the city crowd to pay and watch such shows is a big dampener. On average, two of three events held in the city are for invitees or where entry is free. Samir Pandit, whose show Lamhe featuring Shiv Kumar Sharma could not draw much audience, says, "he is an artist of international repute so the ticket prices were Rs 1500, Rs 1000 and Rs 500. The sales were dismal."
Blaming this on different charitable organizations that hold shows for free, Pandit says that they have spoilt the habits. "The common approach is 'Kahin se pass jamao'. We are willing to pay for our drinks and meals, we don't haggle at multiplex counter, but why this tendency to try for free passes for a live performance," he asks.
City businessman and member of a social service club Kamal Taori brought the play 'Bus Itna Sa Khwab...' as a fund raiser event some months back. He says it was not easy to fill up the auditorium. "Established actors like Shefali Chhaya and Kiran Karmarkar were acting in this play. It cost us around Rs 5 lakh. This being a fund raiser we could get sponsors and donors. If the cost had to be recovered through ticket sales, the price of a ticket would not have been less than Rs 500. That would have severely affected the number of audience," he added.
Terming audience as the most important component, theatre person Akash Khurana, whose Mumbai-based production house recently staged a play in the city, says, "I refrain from pricing tickets beyond Rs 400. This means a loss but I would rather make a loss then lose the audience."
There are many event organizers in the city who have burnt their fingers by staging mega plays with high ticket price. Jyotsana Joshi says she had brought the play Krishna Arpanam in 2009 and suffered severe losses. "It was a mega play with a cast of 40 actors and magnificent sets. I could not sell tickets that were priced around Rs 1000." Now, Joshi has a dedicated membership on a nominal fee and stages three to four plays in a year.
Paucity of auditoriums too contributes to these difficulties. Vasantrao Deshpande hall, counted among the best with a capacity to seat 1000, comes with an eight hour rental of Rs 23,000 plus a deposit of 11,000. That also make it perhaps the most expensive venue in the entire state. However, its sheer size makes it inappropriate for plays. Vijay Damani, a promoter of cultural activities, agrees. "Deshpande hall has too much depth. For staging plays an auditorium with a maximum capacity of 300 to 400 seats is sufficient. But then tickets would cost a bomb," he explains.
Perhaps that is why there is an overload of musical shows in the city by artists who range from rank amateurs to those who have tasted fame thanks to television reality shows. Shiela Kulkarni, the organizer of Swarved, says even in free shows there is so much choice. "Entry was free for our events because we were doing it for a mission. That was to promote the upcoming talent of the city. But now we need to tag some value to these shows and also to this talent," she says.
It is indeed a missionary zeal that compels these organizers to hold such events. Ajey Gampawar, an artist and event organizer who has held shows featuring Amol Palekar, Sai Paranjape and Jabbar Patel, says that a lot of research goes into these shows which are just one time happenings. "If I were to hold them in Mumbai or Pune these shows would have been sold out and also had repeat value. Here we do all this for free and only for a single show." He says that it will take a long time to convince people to pay for watching such programmes. "Until such time, it would be a risk to put a premium price tag on an event being held in this city," he adds.