A massive stage sprawls on the Indira Gandhi National Centre of the Arts lawns. A stage double the size of a 70 mm wide screen and the action on it keeps a sea of audience enthralled. They cheer, clap and egg on as the Assamese play “O Moi Munnai Koisu” unravels an intriguing battle of violence and non-violence.
The stage is remarkably split into two — one part is Munna's workshop and the other a living room. Action unfolds in either of these settings. To keep pace with the times is a multi-media presentation of the title song. “O Moi Munnai Koisu” boasts a lot of song and dance, thundering dialogues accompanied by furious play of lights and elaborate sets.
A production from the legendary Kahinoor Theatre, mobile theatre is a way of life in Assam. Delhiites got a glimpse of it when Kahinoor brought to the capital three of their productions — “O Moi Munnai Koisu,” “Sheetare Semeka Rati” and “Aseemat Jar Heral Seema” as part of an IGNCA, National School of Drama endeavour.
Kahinoor came to Delhi as they go to villages in Assam — in eight trucks with all the structure and the stage material. Mobile theatres pose stiff competition to movies and television in Assam.
“Now there are roughly 30 mobile theatre groups in Assam,” says Ratan Lahkar, producer and co-founder, Kahinoor Theatre. “Every year we begin our rehearsal from July and by mid-August we begin the tour,” he adds. It begins as almost a ritual at their place of origin at Pathsala with shows for a few days and then chugs along to other nooks with its troop of about 150 people.
Lahkar points out the reasons for the popularity of mobile theatre, which lures popular movie actors like Jatin Bora to be part of it. “In Assam, films are in a bad state financially. Apart from Guwahati, the rest are small cities. Cinema halls are present only in the towns,” he says. So for those in the villages if a movie is miles away, mobile theatre is at their doorstep.
Financial viability
“This is an incentive to actors,” says Lahkar. Financial viability is also a big plus going in favour of mobile theatres in Assam. Lahkar and Kahinoor brought in a trend when he took loan from a national bank to begin the group. A group like Kahinoor takes home about Rs.68,000 for their first show and about 65 per cent of the ticket sales for the subsequent shows.
If mobile theatre earlier failed to woo the elite crowd, Lahkar says, Kahinoor brought a pronounced change in the audience. Armed with a master's degree and the benefit of education outside the State, Lahkar says he brought in new, different scripts to the stage.
Kahinoor's catalogue of plays is stunning when it comes to range. “I did “Ramayana” and “Mahabharat much before the epics made it to television”,” says Lahkar. Add to it a dose of Homer's “Illiad” and “Odyssey”, R.L. Stevenson's “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”, Fyodor Dostoevsky's “Crime and Punishment” and even “Cleopatra” and “Hamlet.” Lahkar's team created the sinking of the “Titanic” without a drop of water.
According to him, any event of significance can spur a play. “When the Kargil war had happened, we had a play.”
After about 34 years at the helm of Kahinoor, Lahkar looks back and says, “Nobody can silence me.” Though there were a few challenges along the way, Lahkar and his team have tide over those. He attributes it to the “belief” people had in him.
Grand designs A scene from “O Moi Munnai Koisu” and (right) a miniature of Kahinoor's huge set.
The Kahinoor story
Mobile theatre tours Assam for seven months a year. They perform for roughly 210 days, visiting about 75 villages and performing about 150 shows.
Ratan Lahkar informs the Kahinoor shows for 2011 have already been booked.
