Muddle of Abhinav Theatre

Not one but several woes have created the muddle of Abhinav Theatre. An institution with the potential of becoming the hub of cultural and artistic activities not only in the State but also in Northern India is reduced to hash, thanks to total lack of interest, taste and vision for aesthetics with the leaders and administrators of our State. It is a sordid story how an important institution has passed into the hands of novices incapable of comprehending the type of service they are supposed to render to society. It will not be out of place to say that those at the helm of affairs have scant understanding and appreciation of art, literature and culture. That is a reflection of poverty of cultural wealth.
People gifted with talent like to entertain society and at the same time win a name for them. This creative faculty is usually dormant. However, if opportunity is at hand, it flowers and becomes great source of inspiration for the society. We have excellent film industry called Bollywood. It has made a name in the world of art in acting and cinematography. Wherefrom will the artists come if there are no avenues for them to receive initiation in hometowns and cities.  Many people do not know that a visitor to any major city in a European country like London, Paris or Moscow makes a visit to famous theatres as his priority. These are not only places of sophisticated entertainment but also the storehouse of culture and heritage of those people. If anybody wants to acquaint himself with the impact of a theatre and institution of art on a given society, he should study the history of Greek theatre wherefrom the art of dramatics originated.
Abhinav Theatre came up in 1978. It took its name after the great Shaivacharya of Kashmir, namely Abhinav Gupt. There is full justification for having named this theatre after the great scholar and art critic. However, alas, the dilapidated conditions to which Abhinav Theatre is relegated, is an insult to the name of Abhinav Gupt. The woes of the theatre are first, an underground drain passes through the complex and if it is not de-silted and cleaned regularly, passage of water is blocked and the water oozes out damaging the building and its contents. This is precisely what happened in 2014 floods. Entire library and much of its equipment suffered damage. Oozing water is potential threat to the theatre building and it is not anymore safe for utilization.  How the authorities will solve this fundamental problem of the theatre is a matter of guess. The second major problem with the theatre is that the people have illegally grabbed two-third of the land allotted to it. There has been large-scale encroachment and no revenue or municipal authority ever objected to blatant encroachments. Were the authorities accomplices in these encroachments? It seem so because at no stage did anybody object and obstruct the loot of land. Out of about 70 kanals of land existing in the name of the Abhinav Theatre, hardly 27 kanals are actually in its possession. The question is how are the authorities going to undo illegal encroachment? We do not find there is any move at any level in this regard. If authorities were seriously interested in promoting art and culture, they would have moved entire Government machinery to enforce the law of the land and get the encroachments vacated. This seems improbable. If they were interested, action would have been taken by now. The third woe of the theatre complex is that a good part of it is occupied by the Cultural Academy and that has left the theatre squeezed. This is not the case with Tagore Hall in Srinagar. The Srinagar branch of Cultural Academy has its independent complex in Lal Mandi and has nothing to do with the Tagore Hall. Why is the Cultural Academy thrust on Abhinav Theatre? There is no rationale. The fourth woe is that although renovation and restructuring of the theatre was recommended and initiated through official process, it is now the fourth year that this renovation has been dragging on. How long it will take, no body can predict. In the process, people interested in theatrical performance are obliged to find other avenues and this is great distraction for them. They have lot centrality. There is also the serious complaint that its renovation is not in the hands of experts. After all, an auditorium is different from ordinary building which the PWD undertakes. Authorities are trying to absolve themselves of responsibility by saying that much of the renovation and reconstruction work has been completed but the reality is something different. Closure of Abhinav Theatre for such a long time is direct assault on the creative faculties of the youth of Jammu. It is unacceptable. The Government should take notice of this muddle, and stop advertently or inadvertently subjecting creative faculty of Jammu youth to suppression and denial.

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