Sanskrita Bharadwaj, Titas Chowdhury and Naina Arora (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 25, 2020)

With no new theatrical shows, open-mics or gigs due to the outbreak of Covid-19, life has been drastically different for people across the country. The performing arts have always suffered challenges, financially. And now, the Coronavirus scare has come as a severe blow to the entire industry, including artistes and technicians. Manav Kaul who was all set to stage Giving Up On Godot, a play directed by him at Mumbai’s Prithvi Theatre, says, “It was a little heartbreaking that it didn’t happen. We had finished the final rehearsals, and just two days before we were about to go on stage, we came to know that the show has been postponed.”

Ask him about the loss of money and he explains, “A play won’t go waste and it’s here to stay. I’ve got a script, we’ve got actors and we’ll open it in November. The money put in is all mine and so it doesn’t matter. The staff involved in plays are being taken care of.”

Shikha Talsania, who has co-directed the play, wants to concentrate on the silver lining and hopes that the audience turnout will be more post the crisis. “Maybe, once this ends, we will get more audience, who will be bored of watching television and would look forward to watching a live performance,” she says.

Gujarati actor-director Pratik Gandhi, who is popular for his plays Mohan No Masalo and Hu Chandrakant Bakshi, believes that the coronavirus crisis is a “big blow” to the already struggling theatre industry but some “path breaking innovation” might come out of it. “With shows being cancelled, a lot of theatre people who are completely dependent on it are suffering a huge loss, too. But being an optimist, I want to believe that we’re all getting time to introspect,” he says.

Comedy gigs which are a regular in Mumbai and Delhi, have suffered a big blow as well. “All my shows were cancelled, including public, corporate, and private,” says stand-up comedian Rahul Dua (right), adding, “Quarantine can be boring. Even if all of this is over, it’ll take some time for people to be comfortable sharing an auditorium room with 300 people.”

Musicians, too, are bearing the brunt. Delhi-based singer Sonam Kalra, says, “This has been hard on the global economy. A lot of musicians including myself had shows that have got cancelled but I do believe it is necessary for now as it is better for us to be safe and responsible.”

Actor Sonali Kulkarni (below), who was supposed to travel to the US for a play, early this month, cancelled her travel plans. She says, “This is going to hit the industry for long term. All the technicians are going to face problems because we are shut.”

Stage actor and producer Denzil Smith (below) echoes similar thoughts. “Let’s assume that we are able to get out of this, even then people will not want to invest in the arts because many people would think about resurrecting their financial situations,” he explains, adding, “Perhaps, the art will see a resurgence and some mind blowing stuff will happen when we start over.”

Director Atul Satya Koushik whose shows were cancelled, says, “Even if normal services start opening by mid April, entertainment would be the last priority of the government as it’s not an essential commodity. I am telling my team that art is practised in isolation, and executed in public. So, the practise must continue, writers must write new scenes, and directors must revisit their shows and redesign them.”

However, theatre organisers are hopeful. Anasuya Vaidya, from Akshara Theatre, Delhi, says, “We’ve had to cancel and postpone a whole lot of shows. Classes and workshops are suspended as well. We are waiting to get back on stage.”

While Asmita Theatre Group is keeping the action alive on Facebook with a 10-day online theatre festival called the Quarantine Theatre Festival. Founder Arvind Gaur says, “Our live shows were affected so we thought of doing an online festival till March 31,” he says.

Divya Kaushik (BOMBAY TIMES; February 5, 2019)

Even before its release, Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika - The Queen Of Jhansi had been making news after the actress took over the reigns from Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi aka Krish, which also led to Sonu Sood leaving the project. Since the film’s release, Krish has been claiming that he was not kept in the loop and many changes were made in the film without his knowledge. It has resulted in a mudslinging competition between the two parties — both online and offline.

At a recent event, Kangana addressed the ongoing controversy and said that she was surprised that Krish chose to go to the media instead of speaking to her about the issue. “I say everything openly. People are shouting on social media and giving interviews and crying about things. My sister released the messages which we sent to Krish, saying that we should meet. I wanted to show him the film in December, but he never showed up. In fact, he was sure that the film was completely destroyed and was surprised how could anyone revive it. When I did, he could not believe it. The minute he saw the film he was like, ‘It’s my film,’ which is okay, as he anyway has got the credit for it. But the question is, why a media trial? Why can’t he meet and tell me what his concerns are? He has never met me, never responded to any of the invites that my producer and I extended to him,” said Kangana.

Speaking about some character actors in the film, who, Kangana said, have “agendas” , the actress said, “All these character actors, who are part of the film, are claiming that they were promised something and it was not delivered. They are messaging me saying, ‘oh we were told that we’ll get to do solo interviews’ and this and that, so I blocked their numbers. I was like, are you trying to butter both sides of the toast now? So these people have agendas. I believe if they have sincere respect for work, if they really felt that Manikarnika is their film, the way I feel or Ankita (Lokhande) feels or Prasoon (Joshi) feels, they wouldn’t go out and attack the film during such an important week (after the film’s release).”

‘WHY IS SONU SOOD MALIGNING THE FILM?’
She also slammed Sonu Sood for “maligning the film.” Kangana said, “This is proper sabotage that these people are doing, especially Sonu Sood, who is contractually bound not to talk about the film. He should not be talking about the movie and as his contract was terminated, he is no longer a part of the film. He doesn’t hold any sort of participation in it. Why is he maligning it? So there are deep-rooted agendas that these people have and the worst is that they are claiming to be a part of the film. Despite everything, we have received love for the film. But what is really shocking and alarming to see is that in how many ways people exploit a situation.”

‘WHEN I TOOK OVER AS THE DIRECTOR OF THE FILM, PEOPLE TOLD ME, ‘YOU ARE RUINED’’
Kangana said that it was a huge risk for her to take over the directorial reigns of Manikarnika. “I am grateful that I could do this. I took a big risk. When the film was abandoned, I took up its direction and everyone told me, ‘you are ruined. This is the worst thing to do as everyone will put the blame on you.’ At that time I thought that if that’s the case, let it be, what could I have done? I tried to revive the project. In the film industry, they say that it is easy to make a film from the beginning, but it is very difficult to revive a project. So that was a risk, which paid off well. But yes, there were 50 per cent chances that I would not have made the film. Now that I have made it, it’s a bit more special, it’s not like any other directorial debut,” she said.

‘THIS FILM WAS SPECIAL AND EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE STOOD BY IT’
Kangana criticised the “industry people” for not standing up in support of the film. “My endeavour was to create something for the people. I didn’t charge a penny to direct and I was completely dedicated to it. Thankfully, I have got a great response from people, they are loving the film and connecting with that legacy, which we all share. Industry people are being absolutely obnoxious, they are ganging up against the film, not saying anything and trying to ignore it. Some small-time actors are messaging me saying, ‘oh, we saw the film. It is such a good film.’ They are not daring to write this on social media. So that’s how they have all ganged up. It is not that it doesn’t hurt. This film was so special and everyone should have stood by it, the way we stood by films like Queen or Dangal or any other film that makes an impact on society. What I felt from this experience is that the industry is full of petty people, who don’t rise above their personal likes and dislikes. Whatever I am saying might harm me, but deep down I know I am talking about a bigger cause. There are very few such films that do not belong to one person, they belong to the nation at large and they should be seen for what they are,” said the actress.
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‘I FIGURED OUT WHAT ACTING WAS ALL ABOUT THROUGH THEATRE’

Not many would know that Kangana spent the initial years of her career doing theatre in Delhi. She said that she owes her understanding of acting to her theatre days in the capital. “I came to Delhi with a few friends. We were a group of six-seven girls living in Lajpat Nagar and we were living in a small room, sleeping on mattresses and we survived on bread and pickle,” she recalled. “I happened to go to this acting workshop. It was a group of 10-15 people and there was a gentleman giving them instructions. I joined the group and that’s how I met my guru, Arvind Gaur. It was through theatre that I figured out what acting is. I knew nothing about acting as a profession and it was in Delhi that I was introduced to this world of acting,” she said, adding that going to Mumbai was a completely different experience. “I think Delhi people are mostly misunderstood. I met some amazing people here. I made some friends, who are still close to me. I never found myself in an uncomfortable situation, but in Mumbai, I met horrible people and I continue to run into obnoxious people there. When I moved to Mumbai, I went there thinking that I’d meet similar kind of people, but I was wrong. I was harassed, there were people trying to defame me. I have faced extreme situations in Mumbai, but I have also achieved my success in that city,” she said.