BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): Bharat Bhavan is no longer the vibrant multi-arts centre it used to be. Very few programmes are organised there; four of its five wings donít have directors, staffers have been reduced due to retirements and artists hardly visit it. The institutionís library doesnít have a librarian and even the canteen is shut.
The Bharat Bhavan, founded in 1982, has five wings: Rangmandal (theatre repertory), Rupankar (Museum of Fine Arts), Vagarth (Centre of Indian Poetry), Anhad (Library of Classical and Folk Music) and Chhavi (Centre of Classical Cinema).
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Rangmandal has been non-functional since 1999-2000. It was headed by doyens like B V Karanth and Habib Tanveer. In February 2022, the then culture minister Usha Thakur announced that Rangmandal would be revived and a ëKalagramí would be set up at the Bhavan. Nothing has been done in that direction barring the appointment of Anoop Joshi ëBuntyí to oversee the Rangmandalís revival. The plot allotted for Kalagram is lying vacant.
Similarly, Anhad and Vagarth are also headless. Rupankar, which was headed by renowned painter Jagdish Swaminathan till 1990, got a new director in Harchandan Singh Bhatti only a few years back.
Theatre actor and director Balendra Singh said that let alone multi-arts, Bharat Bhavan is no longer the centre of even one artform. ìEarlier, it used to be a lively place. Amateur and professional artists visited it, discussed things and gossiped in the canteen. But now it looks like a ëkhandharíî.
Only a handful of programmes have been organised at the Bharat Bhavan since September last year due to the imposition of the Election Model Code of Conduct first for the Vidhan Sabha and later for the Lok Sabha elections. Over the past one month, barring a four-day film festival, Bharat Bhavan witnessed no event.
That is mainly because since 2018, the Bharat Bhavan has stopped lending its auditoriums to private individuals or organisations for holding events. 'I see no reason why it should be reserved only for government events,' said a theatre actor and director Sanjay Mehta, adding that with Ravindra Bhavan becoming unaffordable for amateur theatre groups, they are left only with Shaheed Bhavan to stage their plays.
Deepak Sharma, a ceramic artist said that the furnace (kiln) at the ceramics workshop of the Bhavan is not functional. 'There was a time when the workshop was full of young students wanting to learn the art. But now it is deserted,' he said.
"We are in the process of preparing DPR for Kalagram. Funds have not been allocated for the revival of Rangmandal in the annual budget. Maybe, it will be done in the supplementary budget." --- Prem Shankar Shukla, Chief Administrative Officer, Bharat Bhavan
