Heritage Repackaged

BEFORE the performance of Hanuman Ki Ramayan started at Prithvi House last week,its director Devendra Sharma made a brief mention of the audience etiquette while watching Swang Nautanki.

Written by Alaka Sahani

June 3, 2012 04:16 AM IST

4 min read

BEFORE the performance of Hanuman Ki Ramayan started at Prithvi House last week,its director Devendra Sharma made a brief mention of the audience etiquette while watching Swang Nautanki. The audience is never passive during a Swang Nautanki show. Whenever you like something,you should respond with a wah wah or kya baat hai, he said. He had barely finished saying this when a young boy responded: awesome,man.

Somewhere Sharmas statement struck a chord. And the performance inched closer to what this assistant professor of communication at California State University had in mind to introduce urban youngsters to traditional art forms. With overenthusiastic parents pushing their children to adopt western ways,few are exposed to Indian art and culture. This was evident during the interactive session that followed the show.

Only a handful of children in the audience understood the lines of this Hindi play that also had a smattering of English,even though they seemed to have got its essence. Most of them floundered while trying to express their views in Hindi. Sharma promptly put them at ease and asked them to talk in a language that they were comfortable in. English dominated the interaction thereafter. Two pages of information on Swang Nautanki and meaning of certain Hindi terms used in the play were circulated as they left the venue.

This experience,points out Sharma,is an example of Indian children having little exposure to their culture today. This phenomenon has also made Sharma a fourth generation nautanki and Rasiya artist and son of Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma,a stalwart in this field take up the mission of acquainting young viewers with this traditional art form.

We often shut the windows to our heritage. The knowledge of cultural context is important for a childs consciousness, he says.

This is the reason he lapped up the proposal made by Shaili Sathyu,artistic director of Mumbai-based Gillo Theatre Repertory,to work on a childrens play. Sathyu wanted to put up a theatrical production that not only entertains the young audience,but also offers something to take back home. A short story by Devdutt Pattanaik about Hanuman letting go of his version of the Ramayana to make Valmikis epic popular seemed perfect for this project.

Sharma who spends most of his three-month-long summer break and one month of winter vacation designing and performing nautanki shows every year came to Mumbai 10 days before Hanuman Ki Ramayan premiered,to work with the artists of Gillo repertory.

Story continues below this ad

This production is designed as a stand alone performance that can be staged anywhere, says Sathyu. After having two housefull shows at the hall of Prithvi House,it will have two platform shows at Prithvi Theatre on June 5 and 6. Interestingly,this was the first time that performers of this play were dabbling in nautanki. Most of them did not have any training in music. For nautanki,the pitch has to be high, says Sharma,who was happy with the repertorys work.

Sharmas work is not limited to India. In California,he has a nautanki mandali. Most of the members have a day job. We meet regularly and practise together. Every three to four months,we do shows. The Indian diaspora loves them. So do Americans. These are ticketed shows since I believe that people wont appreciate anything that comes free, adds the nautanki exponent,who is currently writing a book on the subject.

In Mumbai,however,all the shows are free for the time being. Sharma and Sathyu intend to turn this into a longer play soon. Maybe by then,the young audience would have developed a better understanding of this art form.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:

Devendra Sharma