Patna: Playwright and theatre artist Mrityunjay Sharma sits in a small, dark room, flipping through the script of his upcoming play, Nastik Bhagat. He strains to read the dialogues, illuminated only by afternoon light filtering through window curtains. With the performance scheduled for 23 April, worry creases his forehead. There’s a lot to be done and the rehearsal conditions are far from ideal.
“Most of the theatre artists in Patna work in this way,” said Sharma, a veteran of the stage for 20 years, and who has also acted in the web series Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. “There’s no government support. Theatre artists have to rehearse at home or in private theatres, where there is neither enough space nor enough resources.”
Patna has a rich theatre culture. But so far, it lacked government-funded training institutions such as New Delhi’s National School of Drama (NSD). Only a handful of small privately owned theatre groups have been keeping the talent alive. All that is set to change now. The Patna Municipal Corporation has announced that it will construct a brand new drama school in the city by converting a vacant building on the banks of Ganga near Raja Ghat. It has set aside Rs 5 crore in the its budget for this, marking the first time a municipal corporation will start a drama academy.
For Bihar’s theatre artists and aspirants, it’s a long-awaited beacon of hope.
“Earlier, there were hundreds of people here who were completely committed to theatre. But in the last few years, many took up different professions. Because there is no system, no institution, no future here,” said Sharma who runs a Patna-based theatre group named ‘Rang March’ with around 30 members.
Patna has a long history of producing theatrical talent. Pankaj Tripathi, Manoj Bajpayee, Vinod Sinha, Subhash Ghai, Vineet Kumar, Ramesh Rajhans, Pyare Mohan Sahay, Gopal Sharan Singh, Ajit Ganguly, and Jitendra Sahay are some big names who all started their careers in Patna’s theatre scene. Parvez Akhtar, a prominent figure in Patna theatre, received the Sahitya Natak Akademi Award in 2015 for his contributions to directing.
“There is a huge culture of theatre in Patna and there was a demand to open a drama school here for a long time,” said Patna municipal commissioner Animesh Kumar Parashar. With the budget and building decided, he said that the municipal corporation will approach the Bihar government’s Art & Culture Department and NSD to establish the syllabus, number of seats, and operational guidelines.
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Too political?
Patna is reputed to have one of the most vibrant theatre scenes in north India, even surpassing Delhi in its heyday, according to senior playwright Harivansh (he prefers not to use his last name), director of the Bhikhari Thakur School of Drama in Patna. However, he claimed that the hard-hitting political nature of the plays both distinguished and worked against the field.
“Patna used to be better than Delhi in terms of content. The biggest reason is that Bihar has a background of (social and political) movements. The Zamindari movement, farmers’ movement, tribal movement, all took place here. The influence of these movements was also visible in plays,” Harivansh said. “Artists used to express their opposition towards the government through drama. And this was a big reason why the government never paid special attention to it. The government has always tried to weaken it.”
Several plays coming out of Patna have garnered national acclaim. Bhikhari Thakur’s Bidesiya, which explores themes of male economic migration and its impact on women, is a prime example. Another is Hrishikesh Sulabh’s Batohi, based on playwright and poet Bhikhari Thakur’s struggles, including caste oppression. “These plays have been staged across India and even abroad,” said Govind Kumar, a Patna-based theatre artist. Bidesiya has had thousands of performances.”
For decades, theatre artists in Patna have demanded an NSD branch, even staging demonstrations, Kumar added, but their pleas have gone unanswered. The NSD currently has regional centres in Varanasi, Bengaluru, Agartala, and Gangtok. NSD chairman Paresh Rawal has also consistently advocated for more campuses in places with strong theatre traditions and “hidden talent”. In January, he reiterated the need for “all major cities” to have centres.
But in the absence of concrete action in Bihar, private players have so far filled the gap. Earlier this year, a new state-of-the-art performance space called House of Variety opened in Patna. Founded by actor Suman Sinha, it is a cultural hub that hosts theatrical productions from across the country. Since January, Sinha said, House of Variety has staged around 10 plays, including Nithalle Ki Diary, Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane, D for Drama, and Kamala Suraiyya.
Despite such efforts, the lack of a big state-run theatre institution has meant that opportunities are few for the talented. With the proposed government-run drama school, there is now a new wave of optimism among theatre enthusiasts.
“If you study in a drama school, you will get a degree along with the right guidance, which will open more doors for you,” said Rush Raj, an actor who has been associated with Patna’s ‘Rangam’ theatre for the past eight years.
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Competition to go to NSD, MPSD, FTII
Patna’s theatre scene courses with ambition, but aspiring actors face a harsh reality— fierce competition for limited seats in distant government institutes like the NSD and its regional centres, the Madhya Pradesh School of Drama (MPSD) in Bhopal, and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune. Every year, countless dreams are dashed due to the scarcity of opportunities.
“Every year, only one or two artists from Patna are selected in NSD Delhi,” said Sharma.
Unlike most professions, he added, theatre doesn’t guarantee a job after graduation, but a degree from a well-known institute opens more doors for employment.
Then, there are valuable alumni networks. “The NSD has its own lobby. The old students from there give more importance to others who studied there than to any other artist,” Sharma said. “There is nothing wrong with this. Students from institutes like the IITs and IIMs also help their juniors. If there is a drama school in Patna and the students who graduate from it earn a good name in the future, then they will help other students from here in the future. These are some of the reasons that will encourage artists to join the Patna institute.”
Vibha, a theatre artist associated with Rangam pointed out that newcomers to the theatre scene have to wait years even for a minor role, which means that their talent remains hidden from view. “With the opening of the drama school, artists will get admission according to their talent,” she said.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)