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Journalism of Courage
WHEN A riveting Marathi play ‘To Rajhans Ek’ portraying the plight of a young farmer and how anxiety, loneliness and low performance takes a toll on mental and physical health has been winning accolades, organisers of the Manas Rang fellowship are extremely happy that the efforts of theatre directors to weave scripts around mental health issues are now getting noticed.
Dr Hamid Dabholkar, coordinator of Satara-based NGO Parivartan Trust’s mental health treatment and de-addiction programmes, and also the son of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, along with well-known writer-director Atul Pethe told The Indian Express that Manas Rang’s method of communication has been well-received so far.
On Friday they announced the second edition of the Manas Rang fellowships and the names of three directors, who have been granted a fellowship of Rs 50,000 each to roll out ten plays in a span of one year with the focus on communicating mental health concerns.
The first edition of the Manas Rang fellowship had various plays being staged across communities, theatres and other circles and of these ‘To Rajhans Ek’ has had its fair share of success with 25 shows being staged so far. It is now set to be translated into Hindi with two shows being recently held at Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Pethe said. Nashik-based director Sachin Shinde and writer Datta Patil are delighted that this play — which evolved as part of the Manas Rang fellowship — has been received so well. The play focuses on the mental health of a young farmer who is burdened by societal expectations and the audience gets a psychological insight into the life of a man in a rural world.
For the organisers of the fellowship, Pethe and Dabholkar, the efforts of the theatre directors to create mental health scripts — which may not necessarily be a do’s and don’ts kind of didactic play — makes the audience understand the importance of mental health and has been a huge boost to their efforts.
“We want to step up awareness about mental health concerns through the medium of theatre and drama and hence the fellowship selects three directors towards this end,” Dr Dabholkar added.
This year, noted Marathi dramatists and theatre directors Himanshu Smart, Ajit Sable and Anil Koshti have been selected for the fellowship. A training workshop will be conducted to explore different dimensions of mental health while they write and direct their plays.
Eminent experts like Dr Mohan Agashe, Dr Anjali Joshi, Dr Chandrashekhar Phansalkar, Rajiv Naik, and others will guide the participants. Manas Rang (Colours of Mind) — an initiative that was launched more than five years ago — is closely linked with mental health and expressive art, and it uses theatre, songs, and drama to offer a platform to patients with mental health issues and express emotions like fear and hysteria among others.
It has also dedicated a theatre festival — ‘Manas Rang Natya Mahotsav’ — to mental health issues, which will be held on November 5, coinciding with the Marathi Theatre Day.
