Let’s ‘stage’ the debate around the National Anthem

Imagine going for a play and being asked to stand up for the National Anthem. If you thought that was only the case with films, think again. Director Atul Kumar was left miffed earlier this week, when he was asked by the management of Rangsharada Auditorium, a privately-owned auditorium in Mumbai, to play the National Anthem. He was also asked to play an audio clip urging people to vote for the upcoming civic body elections, before the staging of his play — 'Piya Behrupiya', a Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.The incident started a huge debate regarding whether the National
Anthem should be played before live theatre performances.

Why the compulsion?
“It makes no sense to play the National Anthem before live performances,” says Atul. “It’s a strong infringement on our freedom. Everyone should be given a choice, if they want to play it or not. I have nothing against our anthem. But theatre has very immersive performances and when you play Jana Gana Mana, it creates a nationalistic atmosphere. That’s not necessarily the mood you want to set for your play. The anthem should be played in the right context, place and time. What next? Soon, you will be expected to play it in your house, when you enter office first thing in the morning, or even before you want to make love to your wife!” he says.
Veteran theatre personality Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal echoes his sentiments and believes that no one can arbitrarily impose a rule and expect it to be followed, unless it’s a written law. “Tomorrow the management will say ‘Don’t wear red pants and come to watch plays’! It’s a different thing if the production house wants to play the anthem by choice. If I am asked to do that, I won’t, unless it’s a law and within the purview of the constitution. Due to all such constraints, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to do shows. Also, it disturbs the ambience created for the act. I think it’s a very politically motivated move and auditoriums are doing all this just to earn brownie points with higher authorities,” she says.
To play or not to play?
Actor-director Shrikant Bhide feels this will create an unnecessary filter. “The three bells before the play are to get the audience into the mood of watching the story unfold before them. It’s different when the same happens in cinema halls before the film is screened. These are two different media. I believe that theatre audiences are far more serious about the whole affair than the film-going ones, even if they are the same people. So playing the National Anthem just before a play starts will definitely add a different filter to the entire experience,” he explains.
Tushar Dalvi, a young theatre actor-director feels that although it’s not compulsory yet, when it does become mandatory there are ways to get around it. His play The Darkroom Project starts by getting the audience blindfolded and guided to their seat before it actually begins. The music, the incoherent dialogues that bounce off the audience before they can open their blindfold, is a big experimentation of immersive theatre, and Tushar believes that playing the National Anthem after the blindfold comes off, will disrupt the flow of the play. “We can always play it before the third bell, and then get the audience into the blindfold. Commercial plays too can follow this pattern. They can always play the National Anthem in the corridor before the audience is admitted into the auditorium.”

Wearing our national pride on our sleeves
Prasad Kambli, head of Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Natya Parishad, the governing body for Marathi theatre, is of the opinion that compulsory or not, playing the National Anthem will not interfere with theatre’s immersive experience. “As of now, there’s no such rule that you need to play the National Anthem in auditoriums before the play. But in case, that does end up becoming a rule, why should theatre artistes be angry? If you do play the National Anthem before you stage your play, how does the audience know that it’s not part of the immersive experience? In fact, it is also played before several
commercial Marathi plays, and it hasn’t interfered with the play at all,” Kambli adds.
While travelling to various cities, including Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad, to stage plays under his banner Act One Scene One, Anurag Khanna hasn’t faced situations where such a mandate was imposed. However, he adds, “If the mandate was part of the house rules of the auditorium, I wouldn’t make a noise about it. I’d let it pass. I do not see this as a problem.”
Anurag believes that the larger issue is something else. “We as a country aren’t patriotic anymore. The only days we feel so, is on national holidays and when something happens at the border,” he adds, mentioning that a larger contention would be if audiences came forward saying that the National Anthem was spoiling their theatre-viewing experience.
Are city auditoriums playing the National Anthem?
Sanjay Bartakke, manager of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)-run Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha in Kothrud, says that the Kothrud Ward Office has instructed them to create awareness about voting for the upcoming civic elections before a performance. “Our staff members make related announcements either before the performance or during the interval,” says Sanjay. He adds that there are no instructions with regards to playing the National Anthem yet. Bharat Kumavat, chief manager of PMC’s Cultural Centres department, however clarifies that no formal notice has been sent to the 13 cultural centres they manage, of which Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha is one.
On the other hand, the privately-run Bharat Natya Mandir in Sadashiv Peth does not make any such announcements. “We haven’t been directed by the PMC or the senior management to do so either,” says VG Gadgil, manager of the theatre.

A mandate for all live performances?
According to Atul’s post, Rangsharda authorities insisted that playing the National Anthem was “mandatory before all public shows of any live performance in Maharashtra”. City musician Jitendra Bhuruk agrees, saying that for his music shows, people have never had qualms standing for the National Anthem. “If it’s a question about time, the National Anthem is less than a minute,” says Jitendra.
While stage anchor and script writer Neerja Apte agrees with Jitendra, she feels that the National Anthem should be rendered correctly. “There are several shows in the past that I’ve anchored where it either hasn’t been sung correctly; our anthem has a certain rhythm. Making it a mandate to play it before all live performances will get the public in closer touch with it,” says Neerja.
— With inputs from Anup.Satphale@timesgroup.com and Purvaja.Sawant@timesgroup.com