The third day of WAVES saw the alumni from the National School of Drama take to the dais to discuss 'Beyond the stage: Theatre 2.0 needs a new Act.' In attendance were actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mita Vashisht, who was also a classmate of Irrfan Khan; Chittaranjan Tripathi, director of the National School of Drama; and Amita Prasad Sarbhai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The session was moderated by writer and actor Swanand Kirkire.
All the panellists, except for Sarbhai, are NSD alumni, and interestingly, Vashisht taught drama to all three, Kirkire, Siddiqui, and Tripathi, all of whom were same batch of passouts. The discussion that began with narratives around theatre and how theatre in India is getting more and more colourful and dynamic, the talk soon veered into the NSD territory, with all panellists appreciating the numerous initiatives taken by the government in bringing about "an institutional makeover" and some more need-of-the-hour measures that will give it a "much needed boost".
"I studied method acting at NSD, and it helped train me as an actor who could survive, despite not being gifted with the stereotypical hero looks that Bollywood is known for," said Siddiqui, opening the discussion. Once a Russian director visiting NSD cast me in a serious role, just because he said he found depth in my eyes. That was the first time I even thought I could do serious roles," added the actor, looking dapper in a cream-coloured blazer suit. Until then, Siddiqui had only tried his hand at comedy at NSD.
Both Vashisht and Siddiqui agreed that NSD was the incubation centre for everything that is "cinema and visual art", and the time has come to take it to the "next level". More than 50 years later, NSD continues to inspire awe and respect for being an acclaimed institution that has churned out some of the finest actors and filmmakers we know of today, including Irrfan Khan, Piyush Mishra, Neena Gupta, Alok Nath, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Ratna Pathak Shah, Anupam Kher and others.
Speaking on the government's role in ensuring NSD's legacy as the top-notch institute for dramatic arts, Sarbhai said, "When it comes to the government's role, one must understand that we are only the facilitator; we run a number of schemes, and we have repertory grant schemes made available for students right from the age of 3 up till the age of 18. And out of 2000 organisations which we support in the areas of music, dance and theatre, 50 per percent is in fact theatre only. So the government supports, but if the institutions expect that we support them for two to three decades, it's not feasible and not possible. So please seek the government's help only as a facilitator."
Speaking on the fact that the National School of Drama still only offers diplomas and not degrees, Sarbhai said that the government is trying to push for the status of a deemed university for the National School of Drama and is also "planning to ensure that the course content keeps pace with the changing times".
"I can assure everyone present in this room that the government will work towards this. We will also be opening more branches of NSD. We have already opened branches in a few parts of the country, and we'll also take it abroad," she said. Recently NSD had its festival in Colombo, as well as Nepal. A batch of second-year students are presently visiting Moscow as they're participating in the theatre festival there, informed Tripathi, director of NSD.
"Theatre is something the government of India is very serious about, and we are working to make sure that the facilities and opportunities to make the most of theatre in India are available to everyone," said Sarbai.
Tripathi further added that theatre is "the finest form of learning how to live".
"It brings about a balance in the mind, body and soul. Right now at NSD we are looking at starting the Natyashastra training full-fledged. We are looking at conducting three-month modules in diverse places across the country, especially tier-2 and tier-3 cities. We have folk theatre, musical theatre, classical theatre, mythological, historical and contemporary theatre, and now, unlike earlier, it will be a paid course now. Theatre is a part of our ancient culture and spiritual texts and should be valued as a cultural heritage," said Tripathi.
