India?s biggest Bollywood star has his roots in theatre. As indeed does the dominant form of mainstream cinema in India. NCERT is introducing theatre as part of its syllabi in schools. More and more corporate houses, whether in telecom or infrastructure, are being associated with play performances.
But the sunshine is still more of a flicker, with threatening rain clouds looming yet. As the National School of Drama (NSD), the nodal body for theatre in India, set up to promote and facilitate theatre, marks its golden jubilee with the largest-ever festival simultaneously in Delhi and Mumbai, questions still remain over the survival of the medium.
?The reason theatre has not been able to capture public imagination in recent years, is because it is not glamourised,? says Ravi Dubey, whose collaboration with Mahindra and Mahindra has conceptualised the Mahindra Excellence for Theatre Awards, one of the very few initiatives that have captured public imagination in recent years.
Though corporate houses like ITC have sponsored these efforts for decades, theatre is still not a choice for those flocking the grounds of Bahawalpur House, home to NSD. ?Theatre is good training ground, but most will prefer to work in movies or television if they get a chance,? says erstwhile student Madhukar Kumar. And increasingly theatre doyens too are beginning to accept the situation. ?Theatre has been able to give salaries,? says veteran director Arvind Gaur of Asmita, who recently collaborated with Maruti Suzuki to stage street plays at the recent Auto Expo in the capital. He points out that the country has still only one NSD and that state funding of theatre has no accountability. ?Bridges need to be built between theatre and cinema as both have a lot of common ground,? he says. Dubey echoes the view by saying that theatre artists, unlike those in television and cinema, are largely unnoticed and unrewarded.
Not that the sporadic corporate support has not been long term. Vazir Sultan Tobacco company has had a 10-year association with Prithvi while the Max Touch/Orange/Hutch association lasted nine years, reveals Prithvi Theatre?s Sanjana Kapoor. ?Both associations seem to have ended with an internal policy shift towards sponsoring sports rather than arts,? she adds.
?We have always supported and encouraged live performances and our products are designed to deliver as close to real life experience of sound ? hence supporting theatrical performances and classical music come naturally to us, says Ratish Pandey, general manager, Bose. ?Theatre is the live play of stories and as a company having 99% of its employees under the age of 30, we wanted to be associated with a medium that is equally dynamic, explains Gagan Dugal, Managing Director, Matrix Cellular Services, associated with the Old World Theatre festival.
Kapoor says corporate support usually is English based and urban centric in india. ?If long term associations are forged then it can be hugely beneficial. Prithvi breathed life into a couple of dreams through the Max Touch support ? the simple understanding that they were there as solid backers gave us the impetus to realise our dreams ? such as monthly shows at Horniman Circle Garden, our monthly newsletter ptnotes etc.? But she says that corporate sponsorship has mostly happened on an ad-hoc basis without much long-term vision.
?The lack of funding and hence modern technology have been a hindrance to the growth of theatre in India,? says Dubey. ?However, if leading corporate houses in different states of the country were to fund theatre in their respective states, it would help to take care of this problem.?
NSD director Amal Allana points out that for a country that has a living tradition of theatre, rare in today?s world, it is crucial to have new private imitatives in theatre, to help set up institutions or theatres. ?What is required is the willingness to support the art form and organised planning to create awareness about theatre,? says Dugal. ?Generally, corporate houses look for established theatre, whereas in the West, you find avant-garde theatre and ballet being supported enthusiastically. Also, the support is primarily in the main metros and not across India.?
Not many feel that theatre is not attracting the young. ?There is great receptivity to theatre across India?s young, in their campuses, and we must approach them?, says Gaur. ?Our festival shows are all packed, and most of the crowd is young,? says Allana.
However, those in theatre are already clear just sponsoring alone will not help. ?Any organisation also needs to have a passion for the arts,? says Pratibha Prahalad, who organised the Delhi International Arts Festival with theatre as a major component of the festival, which received considerable support from Airtel. ?Corporate houses also have a stake in building our heritage as the country defines who they are, they also derive their identity from it?, she says. ?Theatre is a medium of public expression. What better way to propogate a public awarenes message on positive health for senior citizens,? says Ashok Gupta of the Vascular Society of India, which is also sponsoring plays in an effort to increase awareness.
Whether the stage is able to regain its pre-eminent position and speak for all Indians may well lie in the way it receives support today, monetary or otherwise.