“I have been working till (August) 14th evening (when the floods started). There were 10 to 12 troupes I was working for. They called me to inform that their Onam programmes were being cancelled,” said artist Sujathan, one of the foremost stage designers for professional theatre in Kerala.
The season was to begin by August 20 and continue till October. “All programmes for the Onam season remain cancelled and the entire segment is in a state of shock,” says Sujathan.
Ullas Anchal, who runs a programme booking agency, echoes the view. “I had booked eight programmes. All stand cancelled,” he says. “Each troupe could have collected ₹10-15 lakh from stage shows during Onam season, it is now a washout,” he added.
Senior stage artiste K.S. Prasad says it is an unprecedented situation this time. “Never in my memory had we lost an entire Onam season. Nearly 30% of the earnings for stage artistes come during the Onam season.”
The situation of artists who perform traditional art forms is more serious as they usually do not get much avenues during the Christmas-New Year season.
The situation has been made complex as many Malayali cultural organisations outside Kerala too have adopted austerity measures.
“This Onam day I had no money left with me. I had planned the completion of a small house in Chingam. Now I know nothing about the way ahead,” magician Joan Mdhumala says.
“We have three varieties of programmes for the festival season - gana mela, mega show, and gana mela - mimicry combo. All bookings for the three programmes stand cancelled. At least 60 people are directly involved and hundreds indirectly involved in shows,” Kalabhavan Jinto, programme coordinator for Cochin Kalabhavan, said,
The Onam season comes after a lull in the industry during April-July and it is the earnings from these shows that help the artistes pull on till the Christmas-New Year season. “This time it is a total blank during this period,” he said.
“It is really difficult,” Magician Samraj, who had earned for himself a niche spot in Kerala’s magical show segment, says. “Adopting austerity measures is quite natural. But it has pushed thousands of stage artistes to a state of shock for which they were not prepared for,” he says.
He had invested nearly ₹25 lakh for the season and had bookings for half a dozen stage shows when the floods came. “Now all remain cancelled.”
“This is an unprecedented situation. We just don’t know what to do. Nor do we know whom to turn to,” he said.
