Veterans of Nagpur city’s amateur theatre movement, who have dedicated a lifetime on stage take a stroll down memory lane and share a few pearls from their cherished treasure of experiences with me as part of The Hitavada's special series...
According to veteran director Ramesh Ambhaikar, “If you present a good work, audience is bound to come and see your play.” This proved true when recent show of ‘Natasamtrat’ directed by him received an overwhelming response by Nagpurians. The play will be staged at New Delhi soon, and a few more shows for Nagpurians are on card.
‘Black and white’ was the silver screen then, and televisions were rare. The only medium of entertainment, full of colours and life, was ‘theatre’. Smaller was our Nagpur then, and greater was enthusiasm for plays. The only theatre ‘Dhanwate Rang Mandir’ used to witness a full house during amateur drama festivals. Ramesh Ambhaikar, a director of number of such capacity-packed plays, recalls his memories of times spent in pursuing his love for the stage.
“Bengali Association, Ranjan Kala Mandir, Suruchi, Rangarekha, and a few more; there were hardly seven or eight groups, yet, we maintained consistency of performance. Unbelievable is this in today’s scenario, but our shows in State Drama Festival used to be sold out,” recalls Ambhaikar. A proud student of legendary Purushottam Darvekar, who pioneered ‘Ranjan Kala Mandir’ in Nagpur, Ambhaikar worked as Ranjan’s trademark director in post-Darvekar era. His recent play ‘Natasamrat’, which he directed after a long time, received overwhelming response from both connoisseurs and drama-lovers.
“If you present a good work, audience is bound to come and see your play,” he says confidently. “Only 15 people watched the inaugural show of Dada Kondke’s play ‘Wicchha Mazi Puri Kara.’ But a confident Dada continued to do shows. Word-by-mouth publicity worked, and the rest is history,” smiles Ambhaikar, who will celebrate his 69th birthday
this November.
He has a treasure of experiences to share with young theatre activists. He is happy to see their enthusiasm. But, according to him, the urge of gaining more knowledge is missing in new boys. “While doing amateur theatre, I attended a number of drama camps, conducted by veterans like Vijaya Mehta, Jaidev Hattangadi, and Vaman Kendre. When Nagpur University introduced MFA (Drama) course, I was amongst the first few who enrolled themselves for the maiden batch,” remembers the retired RBI officer, who used to attend college after completing day’s work.
“Being a director, it was must for me to study every aspect of theatre. Hence, I attended workshop in theatre music in Mumbai as ‘Director Participant’ with experts like Komal Kothari, Bhaskar Chandavarkar, Yeshwant Deo, P L Deshpande and Ashok Ranade. Even today, I read a lot about world theatre, new developments, techniques, and try to keep myself updated,” he says.
However, when Ambhaikar conducted drama camps in the city, participants were interested just in ‘doing’ play, and not in ‘knowing’ theatre. “They don’t know who Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Dr Jabbar Patel, Pt Jitendra Abhisheki and Habib Tanveer are. They don’t event bother to know! And they say, we will do theatre,” he expresses his anguish. “For me, lack of knowledge is not a problem. But the lack of urge for knowledge is a great threat,” he points out. Information is just a click away for the young generation. Technical assistance is accessible. “But, basic needs like a good script are missing,” says Ambhaikar, who has translated scripts by all time great playwrights – Prof Mahesh Elkunchwar, P L Deshpande, Vijay Tendulkar, Jaywant Dalavi, Ratnakar Matkari, and Satish Aalekar.
“Good language, good expressions, and proper pronunciation are the points where youngsters are struggling these days. I think, lots of work needs to be done on this,” he expresses.
For Ambhaikar and his contemporaries; the present trend is disturbing but not disappointing. When NMC felicitated him with four of his contemporary theatre activists, it was like a family function for them. “We received this honour on behalf of people of our beloved Nagpur. We worked in Nagpur and for Nagpur for an entire lifetime. Lots of work is yet to be done,” he signs off with a glitter of promise in his eyes.
According to veteran director Ramesh Ambhaikar, “If you present a good work, audience is bound to come and see your play.” This proved true when recent show of ‘Natasamtrat’ directed by him received an overwhelming response by Nagpurians. The play will be staged at New Delhi soon, and a few more shows for Nagpurians are on card.
‘Black and white’ was the silver screen then, and televisions were rare. The only medium of entertainment, full of colours and life, was ‘theatre’. Smaller was our Nagpur then, and greater was enthusiasm for plays. The only theatre ‘Dhanwate Rang Mandir’ used to witness a full house during amateur drama festivals. Ramesh Ambhaikar, a director of number of such capacity-packed plays, recalls his memories of times spent in pursuing his love for the stage.
“Bengali Association, Ranjan Kala Mandir, Suruchi, Rangarekha, and a few more; there were hardly seven or eight groups, yet, we maintained consistency of performance. Unbelievable is this in today’s scenario, but our shows in State Drama Festival used to be sold out,” recalls Ambhaikar. A proud student of legendary Purushottam Darvekar, who pioneered ‘Ranjan Kala Mandir’ in Nagpur, Ambhaikar worked as Ranjan’s trademark director in post-Darvekar era. His recent play ‘Natasamrat’, which he directed after a long time, received overwhelming response from both connoisseurs and drama-lovers.
“If you present a good work, audience is bound to come and see your play,” he says confidently. “Only 15 people watched the inaugural show of Dada Kondke’s play ‘Wicchha Mazi Puri Kara.’ But a confident Dada continued to do shows. Word-by-mouth publicity worked, and the rest is history,” smiles Ambhaikar, who will celebrate his 69th birthday
this November.
He has a treasure of experiences to share with young theatre activists. He is happy to see their enthusiasm. But, according to him, the urge of gaining more knowledge is missing in new boys. “While doing amateur theatre, I attended a number of drama camps, conducted by veterans like Vijaya Mehta, Jaidev Hattangadi, and Vaman Kendre. When Nagpur University introduced MFA (Drama) course, I was amongst the first few who enrolled themselves for the maiden batch,” remembers the retired RBI officer, who used to attend college after completing day’s work.
“Being a director, it was must for me to study every aspect of theatre. Hence, I attended workshop in theatre music in Mumbai as ‘Director Participant’ with experts like Komal Kothari, Bhaskar Chandavarkar, Yeshwant Deo, P L Deshpande and Ashok Ranade. Even today, I read a lot about world theatre, new developments, techniques, and try to keep myself updated,” he says.
However, when Ambhaikar conducted drama camps in the city, participants were interested just in ‘doing’ play, and not in ‘knowing’ theatre. “They don’t know who Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Dr Jabbar Patel, Pt Jitendra Abhisheki and Habib Tanveer are. They don’t event bother to know! And they say, we will do theatre,” he expresses his anguish. “For me, lack of knowledge is not a problem. But the lack of urge for knowledge is a great threat,” he points out. Information is just a click away for the young generation. Technical assistance is accessible. “But, basic needs like a good script are missing,” says Ambhaikar, who has translated scripts by all time great playwrights – Prof Mahesh Elkunchwar, P L Deshpande, Vijay Tendulkar, Jaywant Dalavi, Ratnakar Matkari, and Satish Aalekar.
“Good language, good expressions, and proper pronunciation are the points where youngsters are struggling these days. I think, lots of work needs to be done on this,” he expresses.
For Ambhaikar and his contemporaries; the present trend is disturbing but not disappointing. When NMC felicitated him with four of his contemporary theatre activists, it was like a family function for them. “We received this honour on behalf of people of our beloved Nagpur. We worked in Nagpur and for Nagpur for an entire lifetime. Lots of work is yet to be done,” he signs off with a glitter of promise in his eyes.
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| The cutting of the same article published in The Hitavada on March 20, 2011 |
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