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ShareMumbai: It's was a long trip, almost 800 kilometers by train from Bhopal to Mumbai to perform the famous Charandas Chor.
Some members of the theatre group got sick on the way and some while adjusting to the weather in Mumbai. But senior most member of Habib Tanvir's Naya Theatre, 70-year-old Devilal Nag accepts that touring around the country is difficult at his age especially because he is prone to colds. However, with child-like enthusiasm headds, "I didn't mind. There was air conditioning in the train."
Financial conditions of the group may not be very promising, but Devilal's abundant gusto is quite addictive. In the group of 38 members, Devilal is accompoanied by two other older members of Naya who had worked alongside veteran Tanvir for more than four decades -- Amardas Manekpuri (68 years) and Uday Ram Srivas, (62 years).
It is anything but a secret that through Habib Tanvir's last years, Naya was facing an acute shortage of money and rehearsal spaces. And Srivas, an actor with the group doesn't believe in hiding facts, "Almost eight months of the year, we are travelling around the country with our shows. To keep fit at this age, we have to eat right. But what we earn in
Naya is just enough to place two rotis on our plate. I can't eat a fruit even if I want to."
He blames the group's predicament on the government's biased grant sanctions. He argues, "In commercial theatre, where there is money, there is no work for us. Look at NSD, they do a few shows, limit themselves to in and around Delhi and the government loads them up with financial grants. Naya Theatre goes across villages in the country, takes theatre out to the community, and we get nothing. If there are corrupted people in the government, the situation will never improve."
Amardas, however is satisfied that despite all the odds, there are young theatre enthusiasts in Bhopal and in the villages around Chattisgarh who want to stay within the folds of performance arts. He says, "I may be an old member in the group, but there is someone who is 4 years old amidst us (Pihu Sinha) and is ready to embrace theatre."
Devilal looks affectionately at 45-year-old Nagin Tanvir, Habib's daughter, who now runs Nayaand remarks, "When I joined Naya, Nagin was 6 years old. We used to indulge her in childish games. Like her, the other kids will also grow up and pursue theatre. That is our tradition."
