KOCHI: After getting their Sanskrit play shortlisted by the Ministry of Culture among a few selected plays representing the country, theatre group Kanal Samskarika Vedi has come up with another unique initiative. The members of the theatre group, formed by the former students of Kerala University, recently released a one-of-a-kind theatre calendar titled ‘Nadaka Dinangal’.The calendar is a store house of information for theatre enthusiasts on Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen and Jerzy Grotowski to Safdar Hashmi and Vijay Tendulkar. The calendar was released recently, with the first copy received by Minister for Culture A K Balan.
The calendar which was compiled within a month by Santhosh Venjaramoodu who mooted the idea for the calender has been created after contacting theatre institutes across the state. “It is a sheet of paper. In each side we have listed out the different months of the year along with the important days connected to theatre. We have added information from around the world, including commemoration days of noted theatre personalities, World Theatre Festival and other theatre festivals and facts on renowned institutes related to the same,” said Santhosh.
For Santosh, this is a unique venture as there has been no particular calendar dedicated to theatre in the past. “There are calenders connected to many other areas, but none related to the performing art as far as I know.” Santosh, who feels that this is one of the few ways in which theatre and those who have been associated with it can live on in our memories, states, “Theatre is an art; it is life. While actors associated with mediums like cinema will be remembered years later, it is not the same when it comes to theatre actors or personalities.”
The theatre enthusiast feels that such a calendar can prove very helpful to everyone interested in the performing arts, especially youngsters. Stating that his main aim is to make people, especially the new generation, aquainted with theatre and its noted figures, He states,” Not everyone would be familiar with all the facts. While some of the names may sound familiar, the calendar could help them to create more curiosity in them to find out more about a particular person and their contributions to theatre, be it Safdar Hashmi or Kavalan Narayana Panicker.”
Speaking about how the group hopes to distribute the calendar among the public, Santosh adds, “This is not a routine circular or pamphlet, and hence we had personally met theatre activists and enthusiasts in Thrissur, Kozhikode and Trivandrum, handing over the calendar to them.”