Fringe Benefit

For nearly 10 years now, Ishamuddin has been touring the world with the Indian Rope Trick. The madari-turned-magician, who has featured in a BBC documentary, is a busy man with shows lined up through the year. Yet, for the past two years, he has not missed his 15-minute performance at the small, non-paying, relatively unknown Delhi Fringe Festival.

An effort similar to its more famous namesake that draws thousands of performers every year to Scotland8217;s University of Edinburgh, the Fringe in Delhi is in its third year with a steadily growing number of performers and an audience that is learning to appreciate the abstract.

For participating artistes, film-makers, magicians, street performers, dancers, musicians and puppeteers, it8217;s a forum to experiment with new media. Ishamuddin will give his rope trick a miss and instead work his way toward making 8216;8216;irritable8217;8217; mobile phones disappear from the audience.

There are others like 25-year-old Vikas Chandra, who along with three friends, has worked on a film that explores the role of Bollywood posters in the cityscape. They8217;ve filmed people who make posters and hoardings at different stages of the process, thereby showing the posters coming to life.

8216;8216;Fashion art8217;8217; puppeteer Varun Narain8217;s production, Latex Bhujiya, has the puppets taking on issues like contraception. 8216;8216;I might not shock the audience, but I will come close,8217;8217; says Narain, who8217;s pushing the boundaries of puppetry from conventional settings to cocktail parties. 8216;8216;It may not conform with what a lot of Indians feel, but I want to make them think.8217;8217;

Says Chandra, who has been participating at the Fringe since its inception in 2003, 8216;8216;For people like me, the Fringe is a platform to exercise our creative bursts, analyse our works and slot oneself before taking the final plunge. I8217;ve screened short films that would have never found a space anywhere else.8217;8217;

The 15 minutes of open space is appealing to seasoned artistes as well. Chhau artiste Swapan Majumdar from Delhi8217;s Shri Ram Bharatiya Kala Kendra is the protagonist of their well-known production Krishna and travels with the academy8217;s dance repertory. At the Fringe, he is planning to do a spider act, hanging from ropes. 8216;8216;I8217;ve been intrigued by how the spider weaves its web,8217;8217; he says. In the performance, he draws from various art forms like Chhau, Kalaripayattu and yoga. 8216;8216;I had conceptualised the show but needed a platform to take it forward,8217;8217; he says.

Anurupa Roy, co-founder of the Fringe, is overwhelmed by the response. 8216;8216;The whole idea was to give a creative person the free space to try out their wacko ideas,8217;8217; says the puppeteer, who co-founded the festival with a mere Rs 250 used to photostat the brochure.

The first year was an open house. By the second year, the audience had moved beyond perceiving it as merely a 8216;8216;variety show8217;8217;. For Roy, who also runs a puppet group Kat Katha, it bade well that the criticism was constructive. 8216;8216;We had 500 people crowding in what could accommodate 150,8217;8217; she says. This year there are two foreign entries.

Organisers Roy and Arshiya Sethi however have had to limit entries to about 17 performances over two days. 8216;8216;We were not in favour of screening. Who are we to decide what8217;s worthy and what8217;s not? The idea is to ensure a good mix of people representing all the arts and give them the freedom to experiment,8217;8217; Roy says. And, of course, to be wacko.