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Bank on theatre... like always
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Whatever the glamour of the film world, the theatre scene in Delhi is alive and kicking. ANJANA RAJAN meets the members of Bank, a new theatre group formed by veterans and newcomers... .
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A scene from the play "Nirman"... raising a few laughs, seriously.
WHATEVER PEOPLE may say about the onslaught of television and films, theatre in Delhi is alive and kicking, with innumerable enthusiastic people of all ages meeting across the city every day, putting in hours of extracurricular work to mount their productions. They may be on a shoestring and suffer intermittent rebuffs from the family bread earners, but they refuse to kick the habit.
Among the newer groups to join the fray is the Bharatmuni Abhinay/Natya Kendra - Bank for short. The group may be new but its founder Arjun Kashyap has been on the scene for nearly three decades both as an actor and a director. A former member of the repertory companies of Delhi's National School of Drama and Little Theatre Group, he began his career in Mumbai, where he trained in acting at the National Academy of Film and Television and later joined the Indian People's Theatre Association. The lead role in Yashwant Singh's feature film "Pashchatap" augured well for a bright future in celluloid when family responsibilities called him to Delhi in the early `80s.
People need to be coaxed out of their homes to watch theatre instead of sitting passively in front of the television screen, feels Kashyap, who has acted in 500 stage productions. Since the eve of the New Year the Bank team have given several performances of "Nirman", a play about the exploitation of women as well as of the poor by the rich, based on a story by Lakshmi Kant Karpe and scripted and directed by Arjun Kashyap. At its third show that took place this past week, the director who is currently Head of the Department of Acting and Presentation at Noida's Asian Academy of Film and Television, explained his approach to theatre. "Entertainment to hona hi chaahiye. I put in comedy to hold people's attention, and then give my message."
Everyone may not agree with his approach to humour or the dramatic propriety of combining lewd jokes with the horrors of sexual exploitation of an illiterate woman or the helpless rage of her impotent and lame husband, but then the show is being watched and raised a few laughs too. The brochure as well as the script talks of "killing the Ranjan Babu within us" in a reference to the villain of the play, and the sincerity with which it is written and performed by the cast and crew is heartening in an age when `newsmakers' seem to live in a world untouched by the sordid realities of life.
No doubt, Bank's actors too aspire to make it to the limelight one day and join the elite. But while they take inspiration from Bollywood stars, their participation in such ventures shows that their feet are firmly planted on the ground. Arvind Kesri, who hails from Kishanganj in Bihar and aims to be an actor and eventually a director, is pursuing several courses in video editing, sound recording, acting and camera techniques. Equipping himself in as many aspects as possible, he says it was Amitabh Bachchan's films which inspired him to persuade his elder brother to take over the running of his red chilli and dates business back home and try his luck in the Capital, where the scope for getting noticed is greater, and he has learnt a lot about diction and characterisation. Of his role of the unfortunate husband Anna in "Nirman" he says, "I have learnt everything from the director."
Ranjana Neb, the female lead, is pursuing a TV journalism course besides learning dance in various styles and has come from Saharanpur to make Delhi her headquarters, has done a number of serious roles and feels theatre is a good medium to sensitise people to social issues and injustice.
Films maybe a big draw for the money, and even teachers like Arjun Kashyap - having acted in telefilms and serials such as "Heena", "Professor Pyarelal" and "Agni Chakra", besides feature films like "Zindagi Khubsurat Hai" and "Sardar Patel" - may say the state of theatre is pitiable ("Haalat kharaab hai"), but there is no escaping the heady pleasure of communicating directly with your audience. And the common refrain is "We will never leave this field."
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