Professional theatre?

I was flying back from an important theatre conference, feeling upbeat about its crucial role in today's world. My co-passenger on the flight, it transpired, was also from Delhi. "What do you do?" he asked.

"Theatre," I replied with a sense of self-importance. He laughed benignly: "That's all right, but what do you do professionally?" "Theatre," I responded with slight annoyance, "I teach theatre."

He became silent, but after a pause started again: "Where do you do theatre? Is there any theatre in Delhi? Do people see theatre? I remember, long back, there used to be some Punjabi theatre at Sapru House that was very entertaining and drew huge crowds. Recently, I heard something about (Aamir Raza Husain's play) Kargil "" were you acting in that?"

Even though I felt insulted, I tried to hold on to my dignity. "I do serious theatre, not the Punjabi kind," I said. "That was crude and full of double entrendes." He looked genuinely confused and finally shut up. Thank god for that, else we might have ended up in a serious altercation.

Back home, I couldn't get his remarks out of my mind. Had he really not heard of any serious theatre activity, of which there is a lot in the capital these days? Why then was I working in theatre if people did not even know of its existence? And why did he recall only Punjabi theatre and Kargil?

True, Punjabi theatre was the only attempt at creating commercial theatre in the capital. And it was successful, running to packed houses! It had to shut shop when the auditorium became out of bounds for performances for some unknown bureaucratic reason.

Had that not happened, would Delhi have had regular commercial theatre? Then, at least, more people like my co-passener might have seen it and understood the concept of theatre.

Maybe 1 per cent among them might even have got hooked to, and patronised, more serious theatre in Hindi. So, commercial theatre, however crude, also has its uses. It can build a theatre-going habit, and a steady audience.

Non-commercial Hindi theatre is largely dependent on grants and other funding, like all serious art down the ages, but it has never been a regular activity.

Unlike Maharashtra and, earlier, Calcutta, where there was a tradition of regular commercial theatre, the northern belt has no such regular theatre that runs on the funds generated from the audience.

Which is why people there would never ask why you do theatre. Or where. There are several auditoria scattered over the city to facilitate theatre-loving audiences. And people pride themselves in going to a theatre performance, often queueing up the whole night to buy tickets to watch their favourite theatre stars.

In fact, theatre in these regions was taken up by enterprising businessmen way back in the 19th century as a potential source of making money, and they organised the activity such that it, indeed, made money.

That tradition continues till today, particularly in Maharashtra. This allows for regular activity so that audiences can actually take a pick from the several performances that are taking place in the city through the day and round the year.

It also provides a livelihood to thousands of actors, technicians and playwrights. In fact, several theatre practioners in Maharashtra have left well-established medical or legal practices to take up theatre as a profession "" something, believe me, they do not regret doing.

This can happen in Delhi too, provided someone takes the initiative and is ready to put in capital to get it off to a good start. It requires enterprising businessmen with possibly some interest in theatre to kickstart the activity. And I, for one, am sure it will not be a losing proposition, since there is great charm in seeing live actors on stage.

If it happens, the northern region too can have its share of regular professional theatre. Ah, but where are the entrepreneurs?