Theatre activists and artistes have expressed reservations over the State government appointing Ramesh Paravinayak as director of Rangayana, Dharwad.
The artistes, led by Santosh Mahale, Prakash Garud, Vishweshwari Hiremath, Prabhu Hanchinal and B.I. Iliger, met Deputy Commissioner M. Deepa here on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa demanding that the new director be replaced.
The artistes and theatre activists stated that Rangayana in Dharwad had been headless for several months and with the change of guard in the State, a new director who, they said, is “immature” has been appointed. Rangayana is a professional drama hub and it requires creative and experienced directors to take up new experiments in the field of theatre and for promotion of artistes.
However, in the rush to fill the post, the government has appointed a person who hardly has any experience in the field of theatre. “Rangayana is not an event management firm to appoint event managers,” they said.
The members of Ranga Samaj have to short-list three names for the director’s post and the government can appoint anyone from those three. However, the government has not received any such list and it has appointed a director who is close to the ruling party. The only merit the new director has is that he has directed a couple of plays and two films.
“It has come to our notice through newspaper reports that Ramesh Paravinayak is a BJP worker and hence, the party has appointed him as director of Rangayana,” they said. The local MLA should ask the government to replace the Rangayana director, they demanded.
