Bhopal, Sometimes the right decisions are made. It takes decades to see and hear such right decisions. In the fairy tale, the right person was selected on the basis of merit at the right place. This is a wonderful decision. After a long time, I got to see the right decision, otherwise both the ears and the eyes got tired, they yearned to see and hear such decisions. The above comment is on the appointment of youth director Tikam Joshi as the new director of Madhya Pradesh School of Drama, Suman Vaidya, senior theater artist and in-charge of festival cell in National School of Drama.
It can be understood from his remark that this decision of the Culture Department of the Government of Madhya Pradesh is showing positive response among the theater workers across the country. For this, I would like to give special thanks to the Culture Department of Madhya Pradesh as well as the selection committee, which included two famous color directors of the country as well as senior culture workers. The selection committee has not only given a new dimension to theater and Madhya Pradesh Natya Vidyalaya with its decision to select a new director, but has also enhanced the honor of the state government. Here the state government will also have to be thanked, which accepted the decision of the selection committee without tampering and appointed a new director. This thanks because in the selection everyone accepted the insistence of theater instead of political ideology.
Originally from Bhopal, Tikam Joshi has been doing theater independently in Delhi for more than two decades. After taking training in acting from the National School of Drama in 2001, he continued to work in the theater of the School of Drama where he is still a guest faculty. Tikam T.V., who has acted in more than a hundred plays. And has also been working in films. Tikam, a recipient of Bismilla Khan Yuva Puraskar of Sangeet Natak Akademi, will be the third and youngest director of Madhya Pradesh Natya Vidyalaya. He too is basically an actor like Alok Chatterjee.
The post of Director is vacant since last 6-7 months. Despite this, it did not show any effect on the activities of the theatrical school. However, in these 6-7 months, under the direction of two big theater directors Ranjit Kapoor and Satyavrat Raut, two dramas were prepared by the students of the school, which were performed in public. These plays were part of the teaching of the students, but the preparation and presentation of those plays under the direction of eminent directors was very effective. The sad thing is that with two performances of these plays, these plays came to a halt, as has been the case in the past. How to keep these plays of class presentation going forward and their presentations continue to be held across the country, neither was there any effort nor was it considered in this direction.
In the absence of a full time director, the credit of getting the best drama performed by the students by inviting well-known directors like Ranjit Kapoor goes to his team including senior theater artists Anand Mishra and Tarun Pandey, who were working on contract in the school, who worked for the school even for a day. Don’t let the director miss you. In the coming times, a better role of such color directors should be made in the school. Madhya Pradesh School of Natya Vidyalaya has made a distinct identity in the country during its tenure of almost a decade. The main reason for this has also been the absence of theater schools in Hindi states. Devendra Raj Ankur, Bapi Bose, Satyavrat Raut, Tripurari Sharma, Suryamohan Kulshrestha, C.R. Jambe, Zafar Sanjari, Mahesh Dattani, Ranjit Kapoor have played an important role in the drama school with whose fame the school of drama gained its fame.
It is a matter of concern that even after a decade, the school of drama has remained ad-hoc in nature. Like the National School of Drama or the Bhartendu Natya Akademi, the Madhya Pradesh School of Drama has neither a constitution nor a steering committee. Even no certificate is given to the students coming out from here on time. The school of drama has not been recognized by any university so far. The students coming out of school do not get any basis of livelihood without any degree, diploma or certificate. Even the school has neither its own theater nor any building of its own. Obviously, in such a situation, the school of drama has not emerged in any form of its own.
In this context, Tikam Joshi, the new director of the school of drama, has two options. The first is to run the school on an ad hoc basis like the former directors of the school and to use the resources of the school in their own respect. This is a very easy and well known option in the interest of the director. Another option is to take initiative to give a solid foundation to the school of drama, so that the school of drama should be known for the talent and success of its students and not be illuminated by the reputation of guest theater directors. For this, the new director Tikam Joshi will have to work in harmony with the government system so that the school can be recognized by the constitution and its own building, and the students who come out from here after studying and studying, get their color talent ironed. Just as the National School of Drama’s fame is built on the work and reputation of the trained theater workers from there.
Along with this, it is necessary that instead of becoming a photocopy of any other institution, Madhya Pradesh School of Natya Vidyalaya should have an independent image and image which is unique in itself. Madhya Pradesh Natya Vidyalaya can play an important role in creating an atmosphere of color consciousness and color movement in Madhya Pradesh as well as in Hindi belt, which has not been thought of till now. My expectations regarding the school of drama are not only from the new director Tikam Joshi but also from the Culture Department and Culture Minister of the state. I know that the role of the Director is limited and without the active initiative of the Department of Culture, the rejuvenation of the School of Drama is not possible.
Sanjay Upadhyay, the first director of the school of drama, gave the school a special identity, but with his departure after a long tenure, the efforts made to spoil the atmosphere of the theater school, the result is still visible in the form of anarchy prevailing among the students. Mature theater director Anand Mishra saved the act like absence of students without notice or boycott of rehearsals in the classes of top director of professional theater Ranjit Kapoor, but the disease of factionalism and anarchy among the students. given, it is also necessary to free them from it.
It was unfortunate that the working style of Sanjay Upadhyay’s successor Alok Chatterjee turned the chaos prevailing among the students into dissatisfaction which led to strike and expulsion of students for the first time in the school. Along with learning theatre, the students were also trained in factionalism. Keeping himself free from the tradition of former directors, the new director will have to try hard to give a healthy color environment in the school of drama. The teaching of the school should not be ad hoc, so work will have to be done to appoint regular faculty.
It also has to be seen that instead of producing expensive plays costing lakhs, unnecessary expenditure is avoided in preparing plays like theater directors like Devendraraj Ankur, Habib Tanveer and that money is used to prepare the students for professional theatre. amount to be used.
It is a coincidence that just before taking over as the director of the school of drama, Tikam Joshi was honored with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by the Vice President and Tikam performed the play ‘Bapu’ with his memorable performance under the direction of Bhanubharti.