#SaveKalaSoudha: City theatre groups unite to save the performance space

Bengaluru’s southern half has always boasted many names from theatre and a vibrant scene. One of the reasons for this has also been the fact that there are affordable performance arenas, one of which is KH Kala Soudha. The hall, though, has not had a performance since February. The reason? The BBMP decided to increase the rent by four times, which has taken theatre aficionados by surprise.
What’s happened so far
PD Sathish Chandra of Prakasam Trust, who has been running the hall since its inception, says, “We had the lease until 2014. After this, we only got temporary extensions for some reason and were still running the place. This year, the new Joint Commissioner of BBMP suddenly told us that a place like Kala Soudha is akin to Town Hall, and since the latter pays Rs 80,000 as rent, they mooted to increase ours to Rs 40,000. This is four times what we were paying as rent. We later submitted a letter saying that we could only pay up to two-and-a-half times higher. Since we have been trying to sort this out, there has been no performance since February this year.”
He further adds, “We used to charge Rs 3,000 on week days, while Rs 5,000 on weekends per performance. With those rentals, we used to barely break even. Now, if the authorities increase the rent, we will be forced to increase the rental cost for theatre groups accordingly. This is why we are trying to ensure that we don’t see a very steep increase.” Sathish also points out that Kala Soudha used to see regular theatre performances and other shows, as opposed to Town Hall, which charges much more, which hinders people from opting for it.