State govt has increased grant to theatre groups: Basu

West Bengal minister and eminent theatre personality Bratya Basu on Sunday said efforts in some circles to belittle the work of the state government to promote theatre and art will not succeed.

Addressing the inaugural function of the 18th theatre festival here, Basu said without directly naming anyone, "The work of this government to promote theatre and other forms of art cannot be suppressed and belittled by any narrow minded opinion of some people."

There had been criticism by some Left intellectuals in recent times that the state government and state-run theatre academy was "doing little to promote" theatre and arts.

 

Basu, who is in charge of the Science and Technology and Bio-technology departments said, "instead of the meagre grant for theatre groups during the rule of our predecessor, which did not exceed Rs 8,000-10,000, our government has increased the grant amount by several notches."

"Again instead of making theatre as city-centric, in past seven years we have taken theatre to the villages as rural theatre groups are also getting chance to stage their plays and the audience in suburbs are enjoying theatre festivals and acclaimed productions.... In short theatre as a movement has gained momentum across the state during the reign of Mamata Banerjee," he claimed.

Basu said the state has allocated Rs 1.5 crore for holding the theatre festival this year, "which shows our commitment to promote the theatre movement."

Echoing Basu, West Bengal Minister of State for Culture and Tourism, Indranil Sen said at the inauguration, "theatre for people has been staged in 344 blocks of the state" and not solely in the city and important towns.

"We believe theatre, like other forms of art, can be an important medium to spread certain important social messages to the public and hence are taking our festivals from city to the hinterland," Sen said adding his department will put up 126 LED screens with audio inputs across Bengal for live telecast of such festivals in future.

Theatre personality and MP from Balurghat, Arpita Ghosh said after the city leg of the theatre festival from November 25 to December 5, the festival will travel across 10 districts from November 6 - Feruary 10 which would include the hill town Kalimpong (on January 16-20).

Altogether 77 full length plays and 96 short dramas will be staged in the 60 day festival to be held across Bengal and this will include 31 full length plays and 88 short dramas currently being staged in the city from November 25-December 5," Ghosh said.

The inaugural play of the theatre festival was 'Nasika Puran', re-adapted from French into Bengali by noted theatre personality Ashok Mukhopadhyay and directed by Biplab Bandyopadhyay.

Mukhopadhyay, a veteran theatre personality, said as an activist he saw the theatre festival having spread to new areas in past few years along with a rise in theatre-related activities.