Last week, a group of self styled moralists demonstrated in Ponda demanding that Censor Board be brought in Goa and that tiatr presented on stage should be brought under the purview of the Censor Board.
The Censor Board for tiatr has been a burning issue in Goa for quite some time now. After Tousif de Navelim’s tryst with ‘Atankvadi Goyant Naka’ Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik’s supporters started their tirade against tiatr and tiatrists by demanding that tiatr should be censored.
With Francis de Tuem constantly admonishing and catching politicians by their neck in his political songs, the demand for censorship grew and the government toyed with the idea of initiating a Censor Board. However with the pressure stepped up by tiatrists at the ideal time the government was forced to go into denial mode declaring that they had no intentions of bringing tiatr or any other stage presentations under the purview of a censor board.
Tiatr has traditionally been a spontaneous expression of performing art. Even if a tiatr has crossed the century mark in presentation, improvisations keep on occurring even for the last performance. Recent incidents or statements quickly find reflection in tiatr. It is because of this nature of tiatr that it is called a mirror of society. This spontaneity in tiatr has made tiatr what it is and though Goa is the smallest state in the Indian Union and Konkani has a limited audience, tiatr is the most successful commercial form of theatre in the country, that has a fan following without any parallels.
The late Nelson Alfonso and his colleagues sang political songs in tiatr staged during pre-liberation of Goa and on that account the Portuguese administration were after him. Due to the political songs sung by the Trio Kings, Bhausaheb Bandodkar too mulled the idea of a Censor Board, but then with Dr. Jack Sequeira, leading the opposition against Censor Board in the Goa Legislative Assembly hall, the issue could not get the required support and had to be shelved.
Our honourable tiatrists should ask themselves these questions: Why are people demanding a Censor Board for tiatr? In the name of expression of art and freedom of expression have we overtly or covertly crossed the line? In a bid to get audiences to the hall, have we lowered the prestige of the stage by belting songs based on peoples personal lives? At times don’t we cross the line of decency in our songs and comedy? Haven't we used even children to criticize political figures? Public figures are no doubt liable for public scrutiny. But the scrutiny is limited to their public lives not their personal ones.
The need of the hour is introspection. Self-censorship is the best form of censorship for tiatr. Lets not live in false glory. We cannot cast stones on others when we live in a house of glass. Lets evolve tiatr from pettiness to something great. Our forefathers presented the first tiatr to give respectability to Konkani theatre. Let our tiatr be an altar for spreading goodness; not a den for slander to gain cheap popularity.
