Tamasha artists in Maharashtra solid off Covid-19 losses – however the clock is ticking | Pune Information

“This 12 months, issues are good. We’re booked to carry out for nearly all days in Chaitra and Vaishakh. Solely 10 free days are left. The temper is upbeat in villages the place residents need leisure and are able to pay for it,” says Punekar. She speaks about new songs on flowers and the rain and a brand new play on the Indian Military to be carried out for villages.

Narayangaon is an annual ritual, a gathering floor for tamasha teams and patrons for the reveals.

The temper of achhe din (good days) has permeated in Narayangaon, the biggest such truthful within the state, the place tamasha teams from Sangli, Satara, Sangamner and different components of Maharashtra congregate, pitch their tents and welcome village leaders who’ve come to ebook reveals. The truthful is an annual ritual, a gathering floor for tamasha teams and patrons (often a village sarpanch or mukhiya), for the reveals.

The colorful tents at Narayangaon are dominated by boards asserting the teams which can be named after the founder, corresponding to Jagankumar Balvedkar and Housarani Punekar, Sandhya Mane Solapurkar, and Dutta Mahadik Punekar. The 30 troupes which have come for the truthful this 12 months report glorious gross sales, with some being paid Rs 3 lakh for a night’s program. The group managers, who symbolize the troupes and meet with patrons, say that the mixed earnings of the 30 teams is round Rs 12 crore. But, just like the tamasha that they put up, the troupe managers add that the celebration is a passing comfort.

The lengthy shadow of Covid-19

“I nonetheless do not forget that lockdown was introduced in March 2020. We thought that Covid-19 was one thing that was occurring in international international locations and this aasamani sankat (pure calamity) would by no means fall on India. The interval between Gudi Padwa and Vaishaki Purnima, which falls on Might 12 this 12 months, is essential for us. In 2020, Gudi Padwa fell on March 25. We thought that the lockdown could be over by then and Gudi Padwa could be worthwhile for us. However we have been fallacious. It took one-and-a-half years for the world to return to normalcy. In these years, the state of affairs obtained from unhealthy to worse,” says S Okay Patil, supervisor of the group Chhaya Khilare Baramatikar and Dipak Kumar Baramatikar.

Loans from personal sahukars maintain funds to artists, purchases of fabric for reveals, and the hiring of autos, amongst others. Demonetisation dealt the primary deep blow to the artwork type.

Tamasha, a folks artwork type that’s built-in into the tradition of rural Maharashtra, is carried out for seven months, starting in October. The earnings assist the artists for the remainder of the 12 months. A mean tamasha group has 40 artists, apart from as many members of employees, corresponding to cooks, technicians, and drivers of autos.

Troupes, usually, take loans from personal sahukars (cash lenders) round Might and repay them the subsequent April. The loans maintain funds to artists, purchases of fabric for reveals, and the hiring of autos, amongst others. Demonetisation dealt the primary deep blow to the artwork type. “When the Covid-19 lockdown was introduced, our monetary pipelines have been fully choked. By the tip of 2021, as life started to return to regular, all people needed to save lots of and meet loans, so we didn’t generate a lot income. In 2024, the Lok Sabha elections have been introduced across the time we have been to carry out. There was confusion about timings and guidelines, so plenty of applications have been cancelled. That is the primary regular 12 months after India went into lockdown. Sadly, regardless of the quick reserving this 12 months, we’re nonetheless repaying the loans of Covid-19,” says Patil. One other group says their mortgage quantity had spiraled to Rs 50 lakh, which it’s struggling to pay.

Troupes, usually, take loans from personal sahukars (cash lenders) round Might and repay them the subsequent April.

“Covid-19 set us again by 10 years,” says L G Sheikh of Shivkanya Bade Nagarkar. The troupe, which has been booked by villages in 26 districts of Maharashtra, began in 1962, when the artists would journey by bullock carts and carry out by the sunshine of flaming torches. There was a full tamasha program, starting with Gan Gavlan in ode to Ganesha and Krishna Leela to Vag Natya, which featured performs that, typically, contained social messages about alcoholism and feminine foeticide.

Twists within the story

In the present day’s tamasha performances are heavy on standard Hindi and Marathi music and dances. “Now, the main focus is on the orchestra. The place is the viewers for the natak? No person waits for the natak that begins late at night time,” says Sheikh. Outdoors the tent, the previous few village teams are making the rounds of tents.

Balasaheb Borade, sarpanch of Walati village, 15 km from Narayangaon, desires a tamasha troupe for April 22 however all people is booked. He shifts the date to April 23 and finds a number of troupes with open calendars on that day. “Tamasha is a really outdated artwork type. My earlier era used to convey tamasha to the village for the yatra of the Gram Devta. The era earlier than that did the identical. That won’t change. We had a gathering on Gudi Padwa, and it was finalised that we’d convey a tamasha group. If I don’t discover anyone free, I should seek the advice of with the village and finalise one other type of leisure,” he says.

Balasaheb Borade, sarpanch of Walati village, 15 km from Narayangaon, desires a tamasha troupe for April 22 however all people is booked.

However he provides that it could quickly develop into infeasible for villages to spend a few lakhs on tamasha. “The sooner era didn’t have entry to leisure, corresponding to movies. In the present day, the cell phone and TV have introduced a variety of choices to houses. Now, the present begins at 10 pm and the general public will see the dances. The second the natak begins, the individuals go dwelling. But, now we have to pay Rs 2-2.5 lakh for a tamasha troupe. It’d make extra sense to get an orchestra,” he says.

Shrinking season and audiences

Shyam Mahajan, group supervisor of Bhika Bhima, a well-known tamasha troupe that has been booked for 30 days, says that many teams are not performing for seven months. “They’ve decreased the interval to 45-50 days of Chaitra and Vaishaki,” he provides. Earlier 3,000 individuals used to come back to see the reveals and, now, there are 300 individuals at some reveals. He says that artists’ salaries have risen to Rs 2,000-2,500 per efficiency, and the lights value upward of Rs 5,000. On the identical time, banks don’t assist tamasha financially by means of loans.

A mean tamasha group has 40 artists, apart from as many members of employees, corresponding to cooks, technicians, and drivers of autos.

The established teams, corresponding to Chhaya Khilare Baramatikar and Dipak Kumar Baramatikar, and Kalu Balu, are placing up a battle by means of constant performances. “The Baramatikar siblings symbolize the third era. Even once they cry, it’s in tune. The viewers loves them a lot that we get repeat bookings on the villages the place now we have carried out as soon as,” says Patil.

But, Mahajan stresses that state patronage is the necessity of the hour. “An MNREGA-style scheme, the place tamasha artists get 100 days’ efficiency at state occasions, amongst others, would give us the wanted oxygen,” he says. “Else, in 5 to 6 years, tamasha is one thing you’ll examine in historical past books, and this 12 months’s earnings at Narayangaon might be a nice paragraph,” he provides.