EPTA chief said at State Press Club, Madhya Pradesh that EPTA is a nation building unit

Tahir Kamaal Siddiqui : Indore

Indore. It was EPTA’s big mistake to remain a small part of the small Left parties. EPTA should not only become a voice of opposition but a voice of friendship, only then it can move forward. There is a provision in the new education policy to make theater compulsory but it is not being implemented.

These things were said by Shri Prasanna, President of Bharatiya Jana Natya Sangh, IPTA, Playwright, Director, Former Director of NSD and Writer in a face-to-face program organized by State Press Club, Madhya Pradesh. He said that some people want EPTA to always be the voice of opposition, while it should be the voice of friendship. Mr. Prasanna also considers IPTA’s mistake to remain associated with Left parties. According to him EPTA is a nation building unit. They seem to be hurt by theater actors appearing in movies and TV and staying there.

Mr. Prasanna, who has been the color guru of stars like Irrfan, Pankaj Tripathi, says, “Don’t put artists like Naseeruddin Shah in the temple of theatre, put artists like Surekha Sikri, Uttara Bawkar, who have enriched the theater with all their dedication. His protest is not against these artists but cinema should not be considered drama.

According to Mr. Prasanna, the support of the audience is the most important thing for drama to be established as an independent genre. Regarding the lack of patience and dedication of the new generation of painters after some time, he recalls that Mr. Mallikarjun Mansoor was considered a great artist at the age of 68 and for the next 18 years he only celebrated his art. . They believe that dyeing can make a living. For this it is necessary that the colorists join the educational institutions with contract or fees and tell the schools that we will teach the culture of India to your students.

Today students of India know a useless English poem like ‘Baba Baba Black Sheep’ but they don’t know Kabir, Tukaram, Nirala. The new education policy has many faults but one good thing is that it has made theater compulsory in school education and even in teacher training programs like B.Ed. If this is implemented on the ground and artists start doing educational theatre, then the new generation will also have knowledge of Indian culture and artists will also be able to earn a living from theatre. Painters go into films or TV for a short time to earn money in between and then return from there and start painting again.

Mr. Prasanna expresses his displeasure by accusing the cultural institutions of the country of not doing anything for the culture of the regional languages. According to him, most of the country’s cultural budget is taken by Hindi institutions and other regional languages ​​and other dialects of Hindi remain neglected. They question what National School of Drama NSD has done for Bengali, Punjabi, Oriya etc theatres. They are unable to answer the question why there is a lack of new good dramas especially in Hindi and plays written years ago are still being played today.

He cites one possible reason for this being good writers being pulled away by film and TV. Giving the example of Ranjit Kapoor, he says that then the writer does not save the house or the ghat. They say that theater is a simple medium, physically human to human. Drama teaches expression, language, feelings. In the film, one person becomes Amitabh Bachchan and countless extras remain. According to Shri Prasanna, it is important to keep drama alive to protect the country’s culture.

In the first phase of the programme, Shri Praveen Kumar Khariwal, President of State Press Club, Madhya Pradesh, welcomed Shri Prasanna with Ang Vastram. Mr. Prasanna was asked by journalist and culture worker Mr. Alok Bajpai about the present direction of painting in India. Shri Vineet Tiwari, President of Madhya Pradesh Progressive Writers Union and Journalist Shri Pankaj Kshirsagar presented the memento. A large number of artists and culture lovers were present to listen to the interesting question and answer session with Mr. Prasanna and the complete filling of the hall of the Abhinav Kala Samaj was a statement of the growing enthusiasm for the drama genre in the city. Mr. Prasanna praised the State Press Club for this level of organization and said that once such events used to be held in the country’s press clubs, but now such conscious and sensitive press clubs are almost non-existent.