What do you have to say to people who complain about the Bollywood or the MTV influence in Tamasha? Tamasha in my opinion thrives because of its audience. They are the ones who are paying the money. Not you, I or the government. So if the audience demands a Hindi film number, the artistes have to be ready to perform it. Sometimes you get to see senior members in the audience who will make demands for a samajik vagnatya (social drama). Who are we to question what the audience wants? I have also found Marathi theatre people who in the name of promoting Tamasha in countries like the US have on purpose given the lavani a more classical appearance in the tradition of a dance form like kathak. They were afraid to project the rawness of the form. The Tamasha has proved to be a wonderful medium for laying bare the social concerns of the people. Does the form, as it is practiced now have people debate about the issues that matter to them? I am not very sure if that happens in Western Maharashtra. But in the Vidharbha social issues continue to be discussed. Their shahirs (people's poets) are blatant enough to condemn the God Ram, because he deserted his wife Sita. Their heroes are Ambedkar and Gautam Buddha. There are people who feel that the Tamasha is now almost incapable of raising pertinent issues because the tradition of the shahirs is also lost. I am not a scholar to comment on this issue but I do think it is a little too early to write the obituary for the shahir. Agreed that we no longer have shahirs of the stature of people like Annanbhau Sathe and Amar Sheikh. But you cannot overlook the fact that there was the entire left movement behind them. A performer like Vithabai Mang did great work, but of a different nature in the same period. Her vagnatya 'Mumbaichi Kherwali' became very famous. She also danced to Hindi songs but no one wants to remember that. The problem is our selective memory, which wants to satisfy our ideals. So do you see any problems at all with the form or the socio-economic factors that govern it? Of course there are problems and they are complex. Most Tamasha artistes work as bonded labourers under a contractor. The contractor himself is exploited by the system. But at least under him the artistes manage to earn their day to day living. Do you see government funding of folk forms such as Tamasha beneficial? In the first place proper information in the form of data and statistics has to be made available. Giving away a fund is not the answer. And then how are we to find out which company or which artistes are deserving of a fund? Should the fund go to those 15 odd companies, which are known or should it go to those who shout the loudest? There are many shades to this issue. No doubt the government needs to provide the aid but at the same time it needs to assume an active role. *The above interview has been conducted by Deepa Punjani, Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre and Performance studies. << Back Tell us what you think of this Interview More Interviews Neeraj Shirvaikar Ram Ganesh Kamatham Tannaz Irani Lillete Dubey Sharodiya Chowdhury and Sarthak Sharma Interview With Vishaal Asrani and Jiji Subhi BAKUL THAKKAR AND SURYA GOVLE Devendra Rao Interview Sharvari Lohokare Interview Vijay Kenkre Interview Trupti Thakkar and Ankit Gor Interview Aditya Rawal and Zahan Kapoor Umesh Shukla Interview Interview With Juhi Babbar Soni Mallika Shah Interview J BRANDON HILL INTERVIEW Anahita Uberoi Interview Interview with Jeff Goldberg Dr. Shweta Pendse Interview Interview with jamini Pathak Ashok Pandey Gagan Dev Riar Interview Taranjit Kaur Pankaj Pathakji Interview Vipul Vithlani Interview Saurabh Nayyar Interview Mukta Barve Interview Vihaan Samat Interview Vijay Kumar Interview Umesh Kamat Interview Jatin Sarna Interview Debanshu Shekhar Interview Vandana Bhushan Interview Vikas Bahari Interview Trinetra Tiwari Interview Anand Ingale Interview Deshik Vansadia Interview Kapil Dev Interview Arvind Gaur Interview Niketan Sharma Interview Ipshita Chakraborty Singh Interview Ramesh Talwar Interview Nivedita Bhattacharya Interview Jeff Goldberg Interview Ajeet Singh Palawat Interview Amitosh Nagpal Interview Ajitesh Gupta Anshulika Dubey and Aakash Prabhakar Ulka Mayur Shiv Tandan Interview Hemant Jha Interview Sangita Joshi Interview Akarsh khurana Interview with Parul Rana Satchit Puranik Interview Raell Padamsee Interview Simar Singh Interview Siddharth Randeria Interview Chandrakant Kulkarni Interview Trishla Patel Interview Danish Husain Interview Anju Makhija Interview Swati Das Interview Paromita Chatterjee Interview Akriti Singh Interview Vivek Raj Tandon Interview Avneesh Mishra Interview Imran Rasheed Interview Choiti Ghosh Interview Ila Arun & KK Raina Juuhi Babbar Sonii Interview Jay Upadhyay Interview Bhakti Rathod Interview Chandrashekhar Gokhale Interview Preeta Mathur Interview Denzil Smith Interview Rajendra Butala Interview Amitesh Grover Interview Vighnesh Joshi Interview Rajesh Deshpande Interview Mohammad Ali Baig Interview Dolly Thakore Interview M. 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