Bengali theatre artistes excluded from the Centre’s repertory grants shared their grievances with local media on Monday, August 5, 2024. | Photo credit: Debashish Bhaduri
The omission of the names of over 20 renowned Bengali theatre troupes from the list of eligible recipients of the Central government’s repertory grant scheme, the Guru-Shishya Parampara, has caused quite a stir among Kolkata’s theatre stalwarts.
“Some people are asking us why we should get financial aid from the government if we criticise them in theatre,” Seema Mukherjee, who runs a troupe called Rangroop, said on Monday. “I want to ask them whether the government is paying us from its own pocket or is it our money, that is, the taxpayers’ money?”
The Union Ministry of Culture’s scheme, Financial Assistance for Promotion of Guru-Shishya Parampara (Repertory Grant), provides monetary grants to drama groups, theatre groups, music groups, children’s theatre and all genres of performing arts activities. Under this scheme, Teacher or the group director gets ₹15,000 per month, while Disciple Or group members get between ₹2,000 to ₹10,000 depending on the age.
Around 24 theatre troupes in West Bengal, including Debesh Chattopadhyay’s Laketown Shreebhoomi Sanskriti, Abhi Chakraborty’s Ashoknagar Natyamukh, Prakash Bhattacharya’s Nandipat and others, have been denied grants for 2023-2024, according to a circular issued on Thursday.
Sujan Mukhopadhyay, director of a 52-year-old Bengali theatre troupe called Chetna, highlighted that theatre in West Bengal has always been a medium of public dissent and is not meant to favour any particular political regime. “What has happened with the grants this year is reprehensible. It bears the marks of conspiracy and personal bias. Many veteran, well-known theatre artistes and their troupes are being deprived,” he said. “Even if the intention is to promote young artistes, it is not fair to completely deprive the veterans,” he added.
Bengali theatre artistes excluded from the Centre’s repertory grants shared their grievances with local media on Monday, August 5, 2024. | Photo credit: Debashish Bhaduri
Mr Chattopadhyay claimed that the central government has created an atmosphere of fear among the theatre community of West Bengal. “Depriving us of grants will scare theatre businessmen and they will feel that if they do not support the government, they will be deprived of the government’s financial assistance schemes,” he alleged.
He said the aggrieved theatre workers of the state would raise the issue with the state’s culture minister and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and request the local media “not to politicise her decision.”
Sourav Palodhi, who has been directing Icchemoto for the past decade, alleged that favouritism politics is rampant in West Bengal theatre, where troupes that echo the sentiments of the saffron party are often given more power and resources.
“I feel bad for the poor cast and crew members who depended on this grant to do theater as their daily job,” he said. “I demand an investigation into how grant recipients spend the money, and an investigation into the honest work ethic of the neglected troupes.”
Mr Chakraborty emphasised that this would put financial pressure not just on the mandal members but also on ancillary service providers. “For mandals like ours, which do not operate out of Kolkata, there is a network of ancillary service providers like tiffin providers, drivers, etc., who will be affected by the lack of grants,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Shamik Bhattacharya told local media persons that he has raised the issue with the Ministry of Culture and is looking forward to clearing the misunderstanding.
