the goan I network
PANAJI
“Tiatr Mogi Goy”, an organisation of tiatr lovers in the State which was formed to protect the tiatr art form has alleged that the 2018 winner of Kala Academy’s tiatr contest (called “I love you”), was merely a translation of a Gujarati play.
Addressing a press conference at the Dalgado Konknni Academy on Revolution Day, Tomazinho Cardozo and Teotonio D’Costa condemned these type of entries in the tiatr competition, saying that the art form would go downhill if this continues.
“We can’t have Marathi and Gujarati - translated dramas being passed off as “tiatrs,” said an agitated Cardozo. “We have submitted a memorandum to Kala Academy officials stating that the writer-director of “I love you”, Mathias Mascarenhas, has copied 75% of the content of the Gujarati drama “Vaat Bahar Jaye Nahi.”
The rules clearly state that tiatrs submitted should be original. Yet, the officials have done nothing,” he alleged, while adding that a lot of people simply submitted entries to win the coveted Rs 1 lakh prize money. Cardozo listed other discrepancies in the competition
as well.
“Tiatr Mogi Goy” (TMG) found out under RTI that for the Kala Academy competition, Mathias had declared that he himself had written the play, when in fact the play had been penned by Gujarati playwright Praveen Solanke. TMG obtained a copy of the original Gujarati play on CD, and submitted it to the officials. Further, Solanke has given a letter saying “I love you” is a translation of his play. D’Costa said that even after repeated complaints, no action has been taken against him.
TMG had demanded that Kala Academy take back the prize given to Mascarenhas, as well as bar him from participating in the competition for the next three years.
Members of TMG also said that though the competition had benefited a lot of tiatrists for four decades, over the last four years, a lot of “fixing” had been taking place. While they knew this, they could not find proof of the same, until this time round.
