Very often, people outside the charmed circle of the arts arena ask me about the strife and blood within the art community. They enquire about the arty feuds and infighting which more often than not, take on ugly dimensions and wonder how great artistes or artists can stoop to such abysmal levels. As a stakeholder in the arts, all I can say is while it makes for good copy for the media when high-profile celebrities fight, it brings down the profile of the arts.
For the artists whose life depends on remaining relevant and within the spotlight, it is a matter of survival and only a few have been able to crack the trick of being there without bitching about the others. The others take recourse to the tried and tested methodology, sometimes being able to get away with it and at others, ending up with an egg on face. It is my contention that inflated egos and a hyperactive sense of self pushes them in the direction of adopting the tenth rasa that is the ninda rasa. The dramatis personae often larger than life, and their hangers on who cosseted and egged them on, made them feel invincible.
Having said this, the present generation seems to have figured out the trick of maintaining stature not by bickering, but by synergy and networking to prop each other and what one single artiste/artist did for himself or herself, a core group of people did for each other, without seeming like greedy cats. Needless to say, it needs a high level of faith and trust in each other and betrayals are not that uncommon.
A better approach is to go the multi-disciplinary way, where everyone emerges a winner. This is exactly what happened at a recent festival of plays Mera Kuch Saaman by the redoubtable Gulzar. The main moving spirit behind the festival was the art gallery Stupa 18, which beautifully linked the concept of art and theatre. The foyer of the auditorium was used to display paintings of young emerging artists Roop Chand, Ranjeet Singh, Ravindra Tomar, Dalip Chandolia and Daljeet Singh to fabulous impact with fabulous lighting. However, what gladdened my heart the most was using Roop Chand’s works as part of the set for Arre!! O’Henry.
Here, some of the classic short stories by the American writer were adapted by Gulzar into the Indian context and needed different dimensions of the space for the various settings. Unlike times of yore, when used painted curtains as backdrops, which was a hugely painstaking and laborious process, technology came to the rescue and small paintings were blown up onto Flex material and stretched like canvases. Wooden cubes often used to display sculpture too were painted thus and made for very interesting statements. Makes me wonder why paintings can’t be used more often by theatre persons to heighten the impact of the play. Contemporary art has so many hues and facets that it can be roped in for several uses in performing arts both classical and modern.
The festival provided the much-needed succour to parched Delhi that is baking in its sweat. The one evening that was most eagerly awaited was Rubaru, where Gulzar was reciting his poetry and in conversation with theatre director Salim Arif. Surpri-singly, Salim didn’t touch much upon his own experience of working with Gulz-ar’s scripts. That would have been of great interest and meaningful to the audience. In fact, Gulzar could have carried the evening on his own strength and di-dn’t need external impetus.
Gulzar didn’t disappoint with his mellifluous voice enunciating words like pearls dancing on velvet. His take on poetry in Indian film music took the winding path down memory lane, triggering images of Bimal Roy’s ultimate perfection in Bandini and Sachin Dev Burman’s sonorous music. And it gladdened my heart that Gulzar made a point by calling the painters onto the stage again to show his conviction in other art forms. This is exactly the point I am trying to make about multi-discipline. When will more artists tame their ego to team up to greater impact? I wonder...
Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist