Bombay and IPTA, Bombay and theatre, Bombay and automated entertainment, all three are closely connected. The connection was good, once. Gradually, the connection became bad. I mean, it has become entirely commercial. It wasn’t like that.
Automated entertainment was a kid then, a nice kid. While, theatre was in full bloom. The kid, like the newspaper hawking kids, took theatrical messages in reels and ran to the faraway audiences, even rural audiences. He took what talented and committed theatre people, called film people, gave. He was like Hanuman.
He didn’t tamper with the message. Some great films were made. Many of them were from IPTA stalwarts. Dharti ke Lal, Do Bheega Jameen and such. The kid brought some badly needed income to these people. And, some good entertainment to them the audience. It was a nice arrangement. But then, the kid grew. Grew into a monster. And, started monkeying.
Today, he has acquired big money, black money, grey money, crooks, operators, digital technology, all. It is he who decides what is culture, what is society, what is politics. The monster has reached our heart, bed, bath, why god even, bombarding us with what he calls entertainment, 24 x 7.
Theatre has grown tired, weary and weak. The best actors, playwrights, music people, backstage people, have all left and joined Bollywood. Or, Tollywood, or whatever wood. Theatre happens, if at all, in the woods. And, for the woods. And, by the woods. Most young people in small towns have not seen theatre ever. They think cinema is theatre, or serial, or reel.
The biggest losers in this terrible tragedy are theatre people. In, real theatre and virtual theatre both. Every heart is burning. Every actor is sad. Let this festival become a soothing ground. Come, let’s break some new ground in cultural preservation.
Prasanna.
15. 5. 26. Heggodu.
