Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The history of modern theatre in Madhya Pradesh began in the 1950s with Parsi theatre. In 1972-73, BV Karanth organised a theatre workshop in Bhopal.
Around the same time, BM Shah organised a workshop in Gwalior and Habib Tanvir in Raipur. The talents that emerged from these workshops made their name in the country. The Raipur workshop gave birth to Naya Theatre.
According to art critic Girija Shankar, Ranjit Kapoor was one of the earliest theatre personalities from the state. Indore and Ujjain had a rich culture of theatre in the state. Indore had Marathi theatre whereas Ujjain had the tradition of Vikramaditya and Kaildasa.
Rajendra Gupta, after graduating from the NSD in 1972, began doing theatre in Indore and Ujjain. At the time Ebrahim Alkazi’s plays used to be staged in Ujjain. Gwalior also had a rich tradition of theatre. Artists Combine of Gwalior is 90 years old.
In 1970, Vivechana was established in Jabalpur. Bharat Bhavan’s repertory Rangmandal, set up in 1982 in Bhopal, won nationwide fame.
“We can definitely say that Madhya Pradesh is among the top ten states and Bhopal among the top ten cities as far as theatre goes,” says Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner and in-charge director of Rangmandal Anoop Joshi ‘Bunty’. Bhopal is probably the only city in the country which has around 20 women directors working in the theatre.
Theatre personalities, however, say that theatre could never become professional in Madhya Pradesh. Even Rangmandal survives on grants. And almost all the theatre groups are amateur. Girija Shankar says that Madhya Pradesh lacks a structured system for promoting theatre. “In Bengal, drama competitions are organised in every school and college. That helps to identify and groom talent. But there is nothing like that in Madhya Pradesh,” he adds.
More than 280 trained by MPSD
Madhya Pradesh is the only state in the country, besides Uttar Pradesh, to have its own theatre school. The Madhya Pradesh School of Drama (MPSD) was founded in 2011. “Around 70 students are studying here currently. This is the 13th batch. We can say that more than 280 students have passed out from the institution,” says Teekam Joshi, its director. Girija Shankar, however, said MPSD lacks connect with state theatre groups and has not contributed to promoting commercial theatre in Madhya Pradesh.
Among top ten
In the country as whole, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are known for their theatre culture. Among cities, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Patna and Lucknow are at the top. Madhya Pradesh, too, is doing well as far as theatre is concerned.
Those who made it big
Many theatre personalities in Madhya Pradesh have earned name and fame nationally and internationally. Even some have made it big in Bollywood as well as on TV. They include Habib Tanvir, Alakhnandan, Alok Chatterjee, Govind Namdev, Raghuveer Yadav, Rajeev Verma, Kumud Mishra, Ashutosh Rana, Mukesh Tiwari, Jayant Deshmukh, Rummy Jaffery and Divyanka Tripathi.
