Eminent theatre personality Dolgovind Rath has notched up impressive achievements in direction, acting and stagecraft. An Odisha Sangeeta Natak Akademi award winner, Rath is an alumnus of the National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi and has also studied at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Among his contemporaries are some of the well-known film and theatre actors of today like Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Raj Babbar, Pankaj Kapoor, Rajendra Gupta, Surekha Sikri, Uttara Baokar and Anita Kanwar to name a few. However, the maverick director was not tempted to go to Bollywood as most did and instead chose to work in his home state. Rath, who has designed and directed over a hundred plays and conducted a series of theatre workshops across the country to find new talent, tells Bijay Mandal what theatre means to him.
Sunday POST: Is theatre a way of life?
Dolgovind Rath: That’s a big question. Is art a way of life? Yes, to an extent it should be. Those who passionately think so come to this field, be it theatre, painting, dance and so on. But, in reality, art is yet to be become a part of life in the state because we don’t have any cultural policy to make it so. We view art as a medium of entertainment which it is not. Its main objective is to create human beings. It should be a man-making factory. Theatre can provide healthy and strong motivation and is a medium of education. It is not entertainment, rather it enlightens us by providing a finer understanding of life that, in turn, could pave the way for the making of a civilised world, I believe.
SP: Is that what motivated you to enter the theatre scene, to develop your personality through this medium?
DR: (laughs) I was not at that age when I entered the theatre world.
SP: How did you come to theatre?
DR: From poems. For some weird reason, our family was ostracised in the village. So, I couldn’t come out of the house for a few years. At that time, I used to listen to poems recited by my mother. She was my first guru. I learnt how to write poems and graduated to write dramas. I went on to direct my friends in a play and had the honour to direct my family members, including my father.
SP: Then you went to the National School of Drama.
DR: No, that came much later. While doing my graduation in Puri, I used to get small roles in Shilpi Natak Academy, a famous theatre troupe of that time. Then, somehow, I got hold of NSD’s application form and prospectus. My father was against my joining NSD, but my uncle Jagabandhu Praharaj offered me moral support.
SP: You were a bright student.
DR: Yes, you could say that. I had the privilege to be part of a student exchange programme and studied art in the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Those days, the best students were asked to join repertories. But now they move to Mumbai to do films and those left behind are joining repertories.
SP: You were in the league of people like Raj Babbar, Pankaj Kapoor, Rajendra Gupta, Surekha Sikri, Uttara Baokar and Anita Kanwar. You worked with Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher also. A large canvas and opportunities galore, yet you returned to Odisha?
DR: Actually, it is not possible for me to settle down anywhere else. I love the state and its culture. While I was getting ready to leave Pune, Mani Kaul asked me to stay back and try my luck in Mumbai. But that didn’t lure me, I was not in that race. I have no regrets.
SP: You made no attempt to be a full-time actor?
DR: Yes, I had that dream like many others. But that was buried after a talk with Ebrahim Alkazi, my teacher and then NSD director. ‘If you had to become a hero or an actor, you should have taken admission in FTII,’ he said. After completing a three-year integrated course that included acting, direction, music and other aspects of theatre, I did one year of specialisation in lighting and set designing. I continued to work in those areas, acting was not on my mind. However, I acted in some movies of my choice.
SP: Are you satisfied with what you have achieved in life?
DR: Yes.
SP: Is that why you didn’t compromise with your ideology?
DR: Theatre and practice of art is a religion for me, a meditation. I have never run after glamour, glitz and money, and this has been my identity and existence.
SP: Don’t you think money is also important?
DR: Of course, it is important. Why should an artiste suffer from poverty? The new generation that should have enriched the medium with their professionalism are forced to treat their art as a hobby because it can’t meet their basic needs. But theatre is not a hobby, it is serious business. There are very few serious theatre workers on the scene now. I hold the system responsible for this.
SP: You have conducted many workshops in Manipur, Karnataka and other states. How different are they from our state?
DR: There is no difference if we look at the potential of the artistes. But there is more political will power in those states which is missing here. They have good policies to promote theatre.
SP: So here the situation is a matter of concern?
DR: I always lead a life of optimism. I try my best to motivate the next generation. I try to look for myself in them. I think honesty and clarity is very important. It is very important to know why one should do theatre. Every theatre worker should have the answer to that. Before expecting something from theatre, it is essential to know what we can offer to the medium.
Born July 19, 1951, Dolgovind Rath has worked as a Lecturer in theatre art in the Drama Department of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalay, Bhubaneswar. He was nominated as a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi in 1980-81 and designed leading theatres of the state including mobile traditional theatres like ‘Jatra’ in the 80s. This apart, he has designed and directed more than 100 plays in universities, amateur theatre groups and repertories and worked as director of several theatre workshops organised by NSD, New Delhi, Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi and Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi.