Inside Out

Inside Out

It took two weeks to get Kurukshetra Se Kargil Tak ready -- it was IPTA's reply to Sanjna Kapoor, says M S Sathyu

First show of Kurukshetra Se Kargil Tak at Prithvi, and M S Sathyu, the director and president of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), stepped on to the stage.
Not as an actor, but to announce that it was IPTA's second production in the last five months. It was a case in point to "those who think that we have not been doing enough theatre they should stand corrected".

Sathyu was essentially making a rebuttal toward Sanjna Kapoor of Prithvi Theatre.
"She challenged us. And we gave a fitting response with Kurukshetra.... For, it is impossible for any group to stage a production of this nature within two weeks," he claims. In those two weeks, Sathyu brought down Kalari artistes from Bangalore, who, during this time, learned to co-ordinate with the cast in Mumbai. "Even the chorus got just three days to rehearse."

But what does he have to say to those who attest that last year's IPTA festival had not even a single new production?
"Ek Mamuli Aadmi was new! And we did Neelam, Mukhyamantri, Gunah and Rajendra Bedi's Ek Chadar Maili Si last year, though not at the festival, where all the other plays were so nostalgically popular, that I just have to announce them even today and we'll get a housefull. Like Moteram Ka Satyagrah, which has completed 150 shows. And 22-year-old Shatranj Ke Khiladi. Even though the cast has changed from Manmohan Krishna to Rakesh Bedi and Anjan Srivastava, the two shows we staged last week, drew full houses."

More ill will, though. After the show, Sanjna Kapoor was heard saying that IPTA must give new artists a chance.
But that was far from the truth. For Kurukshetra... Sathyu used an all-new chorus and apart from three seasoned artists, the rest were fresh entrants. "I can also complain that Prithvi didn't give us the auditorium even for a full technical rehearsal and I had to re-do the choreography for their small stage," he defends, asking that why do groups like Dinesh Thakur's Ank go untouched, unattacked even when they are staging the same old Satyadev Dubey plays?

In fact, IPTA will be the first group to come up with a youth wing this year.
"Yes. If you go back in time, most TV artists have gone through IPTA. And since we can't stick to them forever, we invite young actors, writers and directors to use our platform. That's how we have grown in the past 58 years -- by not revolving around one person. For, ours is not a group but an institution."

Is it to give chance to newcomers that Sathyu staged his play long after his last, Mitti Ki Gadi?
Apart from directing plays, Sathyu also designs sets and arranges lighting for IPTA and others. He makes documentaries. And is, at the moment, directing a serial for Eanadu's Urdu channel. Called Ho Sarkar, Nako Sarkar, the serial is in the Hyderabadi dialect. He is also planning a children's serial for the channel.

And films? There has been none after Garam Hawa and Kahan Kahan Se Guzar Gaye, introducing Anil Kapoor and Sharon Prabhakar.
"I have already planned one on the reservation policy. But a board-less NFDC has been sitting on the loan papers for the last two years. Perhaps when I fulfil all my commitments I will look for some other financial resources."

-- MEETA BHATTI