While students in Karnataka are busy choosing medical, dental and engineering seats hoping for lucrative careers, some youngsters from Assam landed in Mysore to get a peek into theatre.
Reason: The Assamese theatre, despite all the unrest in the state, pays a whopping sum to its top actors.
A lead actor like Jatin Bora commands as much as Rs 45 lakh for a season stretching up to 10 months with popular theatre companies such as Kohinoor—with Abhahaan and Hengul being in the same league in terms of popularity. This trend has made several youngsters jump on the bandwagon.
Recently, a group of youngsters were in Mysore for a training and exchange programme to boost their career in theatre. Mobile theatre in Karnataka and most parts of the country is on the ventilator. But the mobile theatre in violence-hit Assam, known as “Bhraymamon” theatre, has mesmerised the National School of Drama (NSD).
The premier theatre institution has taken it up as a case study. This has resulted in theatre turning not only into a lucrative career option for north-eastern students but also a way to express themselves.
Bhagirati Bai Kadam, who has been running the Seagull Theatre, says acting is a serious career option in Assam. An NSD graduate and from Gavadagere in the Hunsur taluk of Mysore district, Bhagirati along with her husband (also an NSD graduate) Baharul Islam runs a small theatre school which trains actors and actresses besides staging various productions since 1993.
She visited Mysore with 25 aspiring actors and actresses—a majority of whom plan to take up theatre full-time—and had them trained in different forms of Kannada folklore like “veeragaase kunita” and “yakshagana”.
Speaking to Deccan Herald during her visit to Mysore, as part of the exchange programme Seagull organised with various theatre troupes in Karnataka, including Rangayana, Bhagirati says: “There is more to north-east than just scenes of violence, as interpreted usually.”
According to her, an average actor in Assam can look forward to a fulfilling career spanning over two decades since the mobile theatre culture has beaten the television at its game. Along with entertainment, Assamese theatre troupes have also been playing a crucial role in educating people.
Troupes like the Kohinoor experiment with their format and theme have usually been successful. Equipment used are of high quality. Pandals are erected in each village or town, and the company sets up its own stage. “On an average, tickets sell for anywhere between Rs 500 and Rs 700 per show and a company can stage even four shows a day.
Every time, it is full house with 3,000 people watching the show. So far, no company has wound up for want of funds,” she adds. Is the theatre untouched by acts of extremism? “In a way, they are for theatre and anything that’s Assamese in soul and identity. They don’t hit out at theatres, mostly,” she says.