OURS IS A LAND of festivals and celebrations. Most Indian festivals involve paying homage to natural forces for helping humans evolve, survive and multiply offsprings. Ironically, as we evolved into our present existence — that of a superfast, young, developing nation — we tend to fall short of recognizing the reasons and meanings of what we celebrate. In following the drumbeats, we continue to rush, believing that the “show” must go on. The show that in the beginning, took only what we gave happily has begun to demand ransoms that cut large into our limited resources. We helped the vine grow, but allowed it to suck on itself. The drum now beats loud but we miss the depth, and the flute meanders skilled but we miss the resonance.
At a time when the corridors of Delhi theatre are abuzz with the ongoing 13th Bharat Rang Mahotsav — the biggest Indian festival of drama, the excitement of watching around 84 plays from all over the nation and abroad might take over the desire of questioning, but the need to ask question remains. As a ritual, every year this season, a large section of contemporary Indian theatre raises its head, hisses a quiverful of allegations against the National School of Drama (NSD), the organising body of the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. While interacting for over a year with contemporary theatre directors from various states of India for previous episodes of Green Room, I came across diverse shades and colours of our theatre culture, but they echoed each other at one common point. They shared the same tone of anxiety and disbelief while talking about the “undemocratic and opaque” nature of the National School of Drama. Most of them sounded unhappy with the CD recording-based selection process to choose plays for Bahrat Rang Mahotsav, and associated various degrees of allegations of favouritism and bias against the selection body of the NSD.
Renowned theatre director Waman Kendre registers his objection against the selection process of Bharat Rang Mahotsav quite strongly.
“I have strong objection against the CD-based selection process of Bharat Rang Mahotsav. I have been part of many internal societies and panels of the school, and I have always been against this specific selection process. Recording and editing CD of the play is an easy task for pro-technology, metro-town theatre practitioners, but how will a theatre activist from village or kasba, who does not have any access to modern technologies of recording and editing, will send his/her work to the festival? Do these theatre activists have no right to use this esteemed platform?” asks Waman, an NSD alumnus.
Maharstra-based Waman stresses on the need of a decentralised festival body for Bahrat Rang Mahotsav, which has no interference from the governing body of the NSD.
“They say they invite people whose work has been extraordinary, even if these people don’t sent CDs, but I don’t know which kind of people are there in the NSD’s list. After watching 60-70 plays, if you do not find even four or five qualitatively superior plays, then it means your system is not able to reach and spot good-quality work,” says Waman.
Jharkhand-based director Ajay Malkani asks why can NSD not run the selection process through out the year, and send representatives to different areas of India to look for good plays? “The NSD starts the process in very tight time frame. It barely gives a month to the entire selection process, and as result, it’s all either last moment work or work of well-networked individuals. Just like the NSD repertory and the school functions separately, the festival selection body should also be an individual panel.”
He also raises questions on huge international participation in the festival. “Bhartiya Rang Mahotsav was designed to showcase the work of Indian directors. It would have been alright if the number of international participation had been limited, but it keeps growing every year. They should either have separate festival for international drama, or restrict the number of the international slots,” says Malkani, another NSD alumnus.
Madhya Pradesh’s senior theatre director Alakhnandan says, “I find the entire selection process of the NSD very mysterious. I do not know which Indian heritage they want to showcase.”
Amal Allana, chairperson of the NSD very promptly denies all these facts stressing on the democratic nature of the selection process the festival follows. “We are not suppose to represent the entire country. In the sense, we would like to bring as much people as possible, and the most simple way-out is the CD recording system. We do not look at the quality of the recording. We have experts who can judge the quality of the play. Now even shadis are shot on video, so they are not bad. The quality of video does not matter to us. With this system, we are trying to be as democratic as possible. Its not a state-level festival, so we want to showcase the very best of India. We go through the entire CD recording of a play, following a three-tier selection system,” says Allana.
“Earlier lot of alumni participated. When I came in as a chairperson, I advertised it nationally to include whole India. We also have included other drama schools this time. We are moving towards unheard names to give them exposure and platform.”
A veil, that surely allows light to pass through, reveals but it’d be dishonest to not admit that there seem to be patches hidden. A debate will almost always follow any system, especially when the job of the system is to choose few out of many. Civilisations have and will welcome such debates, and evolve through the heat. However, what should bother our present and will effect our future is the lack of the debate. Green Room today beckons the minds to think, and not stop questioning as the drums beat, and the flute meanders, and humbly suggests that the most important parts have always been the depth not the loudness of the drums, the resonance not the meandering of the flute. Let the veil go!