The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Natak' being sidelined, allege Akademi old hands

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 07, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Natak' being sidelined, allege Akademi old hands

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 6. It was a different kind of "reunion" for alumni of the National School of Drama on the steps of the Sangeet Natak Akademi on Wednesday. Alleging that the Sangeet Natak Akademi has forgotten its role in promoting "natak", the old students feel that theatre is being completely sidelined by the Akademi.

"We will launch a nation-wide protest to restore the lost prestige of the Akademi. The problem is that the chairman of the Akademi, Sonal Mansingh, has no sense of history or legacy. We built the Meghdoot theatre ourselves when we were students. I did `mazdoori' with our director Alkazi. On Tuesday, we asked if we could use the theatre for a small dinner and were given permission by the secretary. However, later we were told that permission had been cancelled," fumed noted theatre personality and poet, M.K. Raina.

While the denial of permission became a rallying point for a protest by old students, the issue was much larger than just a dinner being cancelled, Mr. Raina claimed. "We have been getting reports about theatre being sidelined by the Akademi from all over the country. We have also got a letter from the Vice-Chairman, Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, to the Secretary of the Akademi pointing out serious irregularities in the Akademi. I am going to give copies of this letter to Members of Parliament," he stated.

In his letter to the Secretary, Jayant Kastuar, Mr. Panikkar had stated that despite his post giving him the constitutional privilege of chairing the selection committee, he was yet to find out who all the members of the committee were. Stating that the function of the Vice-Chairman was a "meaningless concept" if he was unable to discharge his duties, Mr. Panikkar charged Ms. Mansingh of functioning in an "autocratic" manner.

Reacting to the charges, Ms. Mansingh told The Hindu that, "it is unfortunate that such allegations are being made as the Akademi has a large number of awards for theatre, a large number of activities on theatre and a large number of workshops for theatre." In the first quarter of this year, she said, the Akademi was hosting at least two major theatre festivals and a six-week theatre workshop was currently being held in Bihar. As for the move to rename the Akademi, she said it was only spoken about informally and no decision had been taken as yet.

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