Starting with this year, Prithvi Theatre is starting an exclusive annual fundraiser that will provide aid to sectors inside the theatre fraternity that requires immediate financial aid. As reported earlier by After Hrs, this year proceeds will be going to the Naya Theatre. According to sources from the theatre, their partners for the festival have promised to contribute the exact amount to the fundraiser that Prithvi generates for the same.
For the occasion, the theatre has organised for an exclusive range of merchandise that is made available to theatre enthusiasts. Several of the items on retail have been exclusively designed. Among items like annual calendars that have prints of rare photographs from the fraternity, there are three exclusively designed yearbooks that caught our eye.
Priced at Rs500 each, these yearbooks have been dedicated to veteran theatre persons like Prithviraj Kapoor, Habib Tanvir and Satyadev Dubey, giving a rare insight into the personal and professional lives of the three men, along with rare photographs linked to each of them that have been sourced from government archives and various private collectors.
Apart from anecdotes and stories about each of these individuals, several noted faces acrosssociety have also paid odes through these exclusive books. There is a rare letter from the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on the occasion of Prithvi Theatre’s 16th birthday, where she writes, ‘…Prithviraj Kapur’s plays truly mirror the complexities of our times and yet are excellent entertainment.’ There are also rare images of the Kapur family, black and white photographs of Jennifer Kapur, rare posters of their productions along with several other personal notes.
Sameera Iyenger, Director, Projects at the theatre admits that it was a mammoth task to source content for the books. She points out, “Our effort always has been to bring theatre closer to people. It was very difficult to access information about the veteran Kapoor as most of it was held in people’s memories.” In fact Sanjna Kapur had to personally travel to several of the government archives across the country to access information about her grandfather. Interestingly, she and her associates also interviewed many old actors who were one-time colleagues of Prithviraj.
However, collating information on Tanvir and Dubey was comparatively easier, says Iyenger. She says, “We got a lot of information in newspaper archives. Also several theatre archives sent us their existing collection.”
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