Telugu Theatre in Telangana

This March 27 is the World Theatre Day. In 1961, The International Theatre Institute (ITI) initiated the World Theatre Day for the first time to promote cultural expressions regardless of age, gender, creed or ethnicity. Since then the status of theatre arts has changed with time. In India the earliest form of theatre was the ‘Sanskrit Theatre’ and it began after the development of Greek and Roman theatre.

The aim of the theatre arts is also to educate people on various issues of society. In recent times, much to the delight of artistes, the Telangana Government has organised programs like ‘Telangana Yuva Natakotsavam’ and ‘Aadirang Mahotsav’ – the latter in association with National School of Drama – that have served as platforms to help young theatre groups to showcase their talents, especially Telugu theatre actors and directors.

However, discretion and diligent effort is needed to uplift theatre scene, share the artistes. On the eve of World Theatre Day, The Hans India talked with some theatre enthusiasts in Hyderabad to know the situation of theatre arts in the city. Srikanth Banala, a techie from Infosys, who is creating awareness among people by staging the plays related society, says “Since my childhood, I love to watch plays.

Most of the plays I watched in Hyderabad have been in English and Hindi languages. Then, I decided to stage Telugu plays. I’m in this theatre field since 2004 and there is no enthusiasm in people to watch Telugu plays compared to English and Hindi plays in Hyderabad. Telugu plays are not reaching to the audience. Lack of publicity is also the reason for Telugu plays to lag behind,”

Managing time for his profession and passion, Srikanth said that profession is for living and passion is for satisfaction. His recent play, ‘Nuvvu Chavali’ explains the dangers of drinking and driving. He did this play after the incident of 10-year-old Ramya’s death at Panjagutta. “I felt very bad about the incident and I decided to bring awareness in people through the play,” shares Srikanth.

After the formation of the Telangana state, there have been several activities undertaken by the Department of Language and Culture to encourage the budding artists in the state. “In my opinion, talented people have less encouragement in recent times. In most of the cases, the plays which had great content had no sponsors or support from the government. Theatre arts are working only by personal contacts,” laments Srikanth.

Another theatre artist Kondal Reddy, a PhD scholar of Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, who recently staged a play ‘Baaki Itihaas’, which was staged using a set cost of Rs one lakh, says it’s important to learn the techniques, “Recently I participated in the one month theatre workshop in Kolkata, organised by National School of Drama (NSD).

I learned many techniques in lighting and designing. I found the sets are realistic and I decided to do the same in Hyderabad. We took three-days to complete the set and after the play, many people came to me and said that the set looks like a real house,” Thiruveer, ‘The Ghazi Attack’ actor, is also a theatre artist before entering into movies.

He says, “In 2012 I worked as RJ for six months and later entered into theatre field. I did more than 40 plays till now in acting and directing. Creativity is important in this field. In North India, theatre is a specific subject and now in many international institutes, theatre has become a mandatory subject. Theatre artists are also getting chances in movies,”

By V Sateesh Reddy