TV, films don't reward acting skills: Experts

RANCHI: Theatre would not have lost its sheen as an art form had the small screen and silver screen fixed some eligibility criteria for the artists apart from looking good, being smart and having famous parents. That is what most leading theatre artists of this city feel. The general feeling is that film and television industries do not reward acting talent and look for other "virtues" instead.
The experts were speaking at a 21-day workshop on theatre for schoolchildren at Morhabadi, organised by the Jharkhand government's department of art and culture and Eastern Zone Cultural Centre, Kolkata.
Kamal Bose, a professor at St Xavier's College and member of Deshapriya Club who has been organising theatre shows every year, admits that the passion for theatre has been on the wane since the advent of television, satellite channels and other modes of entertainment; a sentiment that was expressed way back in the 1980s in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's film 'Naram Garam', where the theatre artists say 'bioscope' has hurt theatre and plan to open a betel shop to earn their living.
Ajay Malkani, another lead theatre artist, who is said to have added commercial value to theatre, says that the state has miserably failed to assist this form of performing art. "I have commercialised theatre in whatever small scale I could," he said. But he did not hesitate to say that he would charge money if he has to add an act of sneezing on demand. Preparing for a show at Purnia, followed by another in Bhopal, Malkani said since Jharkhand is not ready to nurture this form of performing art, artists have decided to look for greener pastures outside the state.
Sanjay Lal, a graduate from the National School of Drama who has been busy organising shows and workshops for children, remembers how tickets were sold in black for their play 'Charandas Chor' staged in Shantipur of West Bengal a few months back. "I, too, feel that the liking for theatre is missing in Jharkhand which is mainly because of lack of a centrally located auditorium," he said. The experts felt that unless people watch and understand what live plays are all about, it is absurd to expect people flocking for the shows. "Even by invitation we cannot gather a crowd sufficient to fill up seats in a small auditorium, which indicates people have not yet developed a taste for this art form," Lal said.
However, Vinod Ranjan, art teacher at Delhi Public School and a painter , blamed it on the lack of infrastructure to the artists. Malkani suggested if the department of art and culture of the Jharkhand government could not come up with a centrally located auditorium, they could at least direct the public sector enterprises to throw open their halls at least once a year for plays under their corporate social responsibility schemes. "We are ready to give our best and have no doubt that people will soon develop a taste because 'reality' is always better than 'virtual' drama on televisions," he said.