Artistes performing in the theatre are in dire straits. The State government should discuss the problems faced by them and sort them out, rather than wasting time on forming committees, said actor Prakash Raj, here on Tuesday.
He was speaking at the inaugural of Bahuroopi, the national level theatre fest being held at Rangayana. Mocking the speech made by ministers, he said that the problems of theatre and film industry was being constantly ignored by the State. He said that theatre persons will have to stage protests across the State, if the government continued to be apathetic towards their problems.
Speaking on the ‘dubbing’ culture of Kannada film industry, he said that dubbing culture intensified following the death of noted actor Rajkumar.
“Till Rajkumar was alive, nobody in the industry had the audacity to speak about dubbing movies from other languages. But, today the demons of dubbing are affecting Kannada film industry,” he lamented.
Bahuroopi, being held with the theme ‘Sufi-saint-harmony’ kicked off to a memorable start. The stage where the guests of the programme were seated saw actors dressed as Basavanna, Honnamma, Gopalakrishna Adiga, Kanakadasa, Lankesh and Devanur Mahadeva uttering famous words written by these writers.
A background score of the famous poem by Kuvempu, “O Nanna Chetana”, was used to great effect.
As the poem came to a close, a eleven month old boy, Sakhya, was brought to the stage by Mime Ramesh and handed over to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who looked delighted by the gesture. Emcee Naaganna announced that the programme was then officially inaugurated.
The gathered audience, impressed by the inaugural programme, demanded that the actors re-enact the inaugural session, blaming photographers of having obstructed their view.
Following the inaugural, Siddaramaiah left the venue, followed by ministers H S Mahadeva Prasad and Dr H C Mahadevappa, without addressing the gathering.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks