The final workshop to select students for the new batch of National School of Drama (NSD) commences today. Out of the shortlisted 35, 20 lucky ones will get to enter the hallowed portals of this fine institution which has produced some of the finest actors and theatre artistes in the country.
The main aim behind setting up NSD here was to cater to the demand for theatre in regional languages, says C Basavalingaiah, director of the Bengaluru chapter of NSD.
“South Indians won’t be very comfortable speaking in Hindi. Thus they won’t get major roles in productions brought out by NSD which was headquartered Delhi. Instructions there are given in English and Hindi; plays are staged in Hindi. The government started a branch of NSD here to further theatre in Dravidian languages,” says the NSD Delhi graduate of the 1984 batch.
The plays staged here are multi-lingual; Basavalingaiah insists there is no language bias or hegemony that is now prevalent throughout the country. “We also encourage students to talk and interact in their mother tongues. Folk arts from different South Indian states are also taught here. But since many plays are produced in Kannada, the students from other states end up learning Kannada in a few months.”
“The audience is always astonished when we introduce the students at the end of a performance; they can’t believe they are from other states,” he says.
The Bengaluru chapter offers a one year intensive a course in acting while Delhi has three -- design, direction and acting. Scholarships are provided to all the students who need pay just a nominal amount by way of mess fees, admission charges and so on. They are even given Rs 1000 as “pocket money”.
A trend that Basavalingaiah has noticed over the past four years is that many students who are applying are not from the art field. “MBA, BBA, MSc, BE, BCom -- we are getting many students from all these fields. When I ask them why they are changing their field, they say they are tired of sitting in front of the computer for hours on end. Also, I feel this exposes the fault in our education sector. There are no job opportunities for those passing out from engineering or medical colleges and the salaries have declined, even in the traditionally well-paying IT sector. That’s why people are switching to the entertainment industry,” he says, noting that this has caused acting to become a business like everything else.
“Bengaluru now has many acting schools which charge fees in lakhs. Some of them are just weekend schools. But for NSD, theatre is not a business,” he states emphatically.
Any person who has completed a degree (or equivalent) course in any discipline from a recognized University. For students coming from the tribal, folk and traditional performing art families, this is relaxable. OBC and SC/ST students also get preference. Ten seats are for people from Karnataka.
Delhi
Bengaluru
Agartala
Sikkim
The syllabus is entirely different in Delhi (“it is at a national level” while the Bengaluru chapter focusses on Dravidian languages. There are four semesters of 2.5 months each. In the first semester, the focus is on ritualistic theatre. Tribal artistes, from Andhra, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, stay in the hostel and perform. Students observe and learn their special rituals for occasions like marriage and observe the dramatic elements in this. The second semester sees them learning folk theatre forms while the third semester sees them learning ‘Natya Shastra’, classical theatre in India, emergence of dance forms and Sanskrit theatre.
The fourth semester introduces them to modern Indian and world theatre. They also learn martial arts, acrobatics and dance for mute theatre. Every semester, the students produce a play based on that particular syllabus.
NSD Bengaluru got a chance to organise the eight Theatre Olympics this year, which was sponsored by Indian government. It was happening for the first time in India and groups from all over the world, as well as Indian organisations, took part in the event which was held from February to April. On a personal front, NSD got its own campus near Bengaluru and constructed their office building.
“Film, serial, full-time theatre, teaching -- the prospects awaiting a person who passes out from the brand name of NSD are many.”
Basavalingaiah