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Today the art form has been reduced to touching up

Illuminative Painted curtains like this from the early 20th Century continue to be used

The original painted sceneries, measuring 14 to 18 feet in height and 26 to 28 feet in width, were the most attractive. They have been painted by some of the most important scene painters of the time, like Baburoa Mestry and Anand Rao Mestry. Since they are non-specific locales like forest or old street scenes they can easily be used for multiple plays. Allana explains that this tradition of painted curtains is dying out. “There is only one painter, Ramesh Painter, from the old school who is still practising this art.” But today innovation has been replaced by reproduction. When the art was at its peak, artists used to research photographs and experiment with depth and perspective. Today the art form has been reduced to touching up and filling in the blanks.

In the early 20th Century, sets were created with a grand sense of scale, which closely resembled Italian theatre in the Renaissance. In 1907, the sets were a mix of temple architecture with the use of heavy draperies, influenced by British interiors. In 1910 forest scenes were created not through mere backdrops but through a series of cut-outs which overlapped each other, thus creating an illusion of depth. By the second decade of the century perspective-mingling was used in the plays. Here the three dimensional continued into the second dimensional. For example, the vase would be real but the flowers would be painted on the backdrop. “Panditraj Jagannath”, based in Shah Jahan’s court used 26 set pieces for the three act play.

The exhibition lays bare not only the technical acumen of the 19th Century theatre but also its thematic richness. If the Marathi Sangeet Natak was known for its short dialogues and 100 songs, the Maharashtra Natak Mandali was famous for its plays on social change. Their plays were often banned by the British because of the strong political comments couched in allegories. “Sharada”, in as early as 1902, highlighted the oppression of Hindu girls and is said to have brought a revolution in female thinking.

However, Allana explains that this tradition of set-making and elaborate painted sceneries faded after Independence. It was seen as influenced by the British. “After the fifties and sixties, there was a trend to go back to the roots. Traditional Indian folk theatre was not under the proscenium, so set-design was seen as a British influence. But the fact is that in Maharashtra they indigenised the foreign influence. They made it their own.” He continues, “These painted sceneries are as much ours as folk art. We re-discovered it.”

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