The Sunday Guardian

Cash crunch means a fresh setback for Bengali folk theatre

- Indra Jatra.

Jatra, the centuries-old Bengali folk theatre extremely popular in the villages, is in the throes of a fresh crisis post-demonetisa­tion. With an unpreceden­ted cash crunch that has followed the ban on high-value currency notes, the Jatra organisers and opera owners say the usually peak winter business hasn’t really picked up.

“Jatra has already been struggling for its existence in the last decade. Earlier, a Jatra troupe would perform 250-300 days annually. Now even a super-hit production gets to do 100-120 shows in a year at the most.

“The cash crunch this year has made the problem even more complex. If people don’t have the money themselves, how would they pay for entertainm­ent,” asked Manjuri Opera Director-cum-Producer Gautam Chakrabart­y.

Jatra, a Bengali brethren of sorts of Tamasha of Maharashtr­a and Nautanki of Uttar Pradesh, is a travelling theatre chracteris­ed by two- to three-hour-long high-octane plays, with loud music, harsh lighting and extravagan­t props. It is generally played out on grand stages under the open sky.

During winter, a mood of festivity pervades rural Bengal and “jatra pala” (folk theatre shows) are organised as people have the money and leisure for entertainm­ent.

But the scenario has turned bleak this year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 8 November demonetisa­tion announceme­nt.

“In Jatra, payments to artists, barring those of the lead actors, are mostly done in cash. The group owners cannot issue cheques for so many artists after every show. The artists who work on daily payment are facing major issues as they were paid with old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that are now worthless,” Chakrabort­y told IANS.

Raja Dutta, secretary of the Jugabani Club in Midnapore district, rued that for the first time in 40 years, no Jatra shows could be organised in his village.

“People don’t have money in hand even to employ agricultur­al labour in the field. So many people are out of work. There is gloom everywhere. In such a scenario, they are in no mood to spend money for buying the tickets. So we are not hiring any Jatra group this year,” said Dutta.

The roots of Jatra can be traced to 16th century Bengal that saw the rise of Sri Chaitanya’s Bhakti movement and the famous form of musical drama called the Carya that was characteri­sed by its distinctiv­e use of language.

For centuries, Jatra successful­ly communicat­ed mythologic­al, historical and morally educative content to the residents of Bengal, particular­ly to rural audiences. But with rising production costs and easy availabili­ty of other forms of entertainm­ent like television and cinema, the genre has seen a steady decline in the number of spectators.

However, even for those managers who successful­ly sold their production­s until last season, getting a good bargain this year has become difficult. Some are even planning to drop the idea of multiple production­s and go ahead with the one that is more economical.

“My company prepared two production­s of distinctly different taste this year, as last year we had a successful venture. But now we are planning to drop one of the production­s as it has become difficult to sell amid the cash crisis. I remember completing 35 shows by this time last year. This year I have only managed to arrange nine so far,” complained Anandalok Opera production manager Bapi Saha.

“Dropping your own production is tough after so much effort and cost has gone into it. But we had to take the harsh decision of dropping the thriller as it invokes more cost per show, and go with just the contempora­ry comedy that has a greater appeal among the audiences,” he explained.

Apart from the production cost, a Jatra troupe requires a serious amount of travelling expenses as an entire group of 50-60 people moves around together for different shows. The daily income is mostly met from the ticket sales. As the Jatra enthusiast­s are feeling the note ban’s heat, ticket sales have significan­tly declined.

“Unlike a film or a theatre, Jatra does not have seat limitation­s as it is performed in vast grounds. So ticket sales at some shows give us a significan­t amount of revenue. This year my group hasn’t done a single show that ran houseful,” said Prasanta Saha of Agragami Opera.

Saha, who manages two more operas called Nandi Company and Swarnanjal­i, is now hoping the season would pick up during the Saraswati Puja festivitie­s in February and the production houses would be able to recover their money.

“The organisers are not booking shows at present for lack of cash. Hopefully, the season will pick up after Swaraswati Puja in February. The problems related to flow of cash would also reduce to some extent by then,” he said. IANS

However, even for those managers who successful­ly sold their production­s until last season, getting a good bargain this year has become difficult.

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