CAN THE CITY SLEEP AT 10 PM?

Navalkar's double standardsquestioned by theatrefolk
With the licenses of two more bedroom farces being revoked by the SPSB last week for alleged vulgarity, the number of plays thus banned in the recent past has risen to nine. In addition to the strictures on plays and songs breaching Navalkar’s arbitrary and ill-defined vulgarity code, the long arm of the law has targeted music nites in the city that extend beyond the 10 pm deadline. Last week, singer, Ila Arun’s music show at the SNDT grounds was disrupted by the city police, when it went on well past the time limit.

But Ila Arun says she has no grouses against the court’s order stipulating that all shows end by 10 pm. Says the singer, “Initially, I did think somebody had tried to sabotage my programme. But when I went home and thought about it, I realised the police were only following the court order and the cops were within their rights. I have no complaints as long as the same rules apply to everybody. Having said that, I think the 10 o’clock deadline is unfair to musicians and music buffs and artistes in the city should unite to fight the ban. I’m told that the court order does make an allowance for religious festivals. Tell me, isn’t the cause of cancer victims, for whom I’d performed, religious too in a way?”

Uday Benegal of India’s premiere rock band, Indus Creed feels too big a deal is being made of the vulgarity in music, when the state government has weightier issues to deal with. Says Benegal, “Personally, I don’t mind submitting lyrics for the board’s approval, because our lyrics are innocent. But people should be given the freedom to decide for themselves on what to watch and hear. If there has to be censorship at all, age limits can be set for say, what a person can watch. Adults should be free to watch any kind of play.”

Theatrefolk and musicians accuse Pramod Navalkar of double standards on the question of vulgarity. The same government which has come down heavily on vulgarity, they point out, had helped organise the Michael Jackson festival last year, despite the vulgarity in his dances. And what’s more, Navalkar has announced an award in the memory of Dada Kondke, considered by many to be the king of double entendre. Doesn’t that amount to glorifying vulgarity, they ask.

Says Benegal, “Dada Kondke was indeed a great actor, but his films were loaded with sexual innuendo. But they were never hauled up. The traditional Marathi theatre, the nautanki is filled with innuendo, too, and men don’t take their wives to these plays, you know. Even these should be scrutinised. If Navalkar is harping on Indian culture it should apply to all, because an innuendo is an innuendo, whether it’s in a Kondke-film or a silly bedroom farce on the city’s stage.”

More plays are understood to be on the SPSB’s hit list. The city police can no longer issue ticket-selling licences for stage performances without obtaining the board’s no objection certificate. The board is to meet at Kolhapur on May 10 to finalise its report on obscenity in plays.