past do you think this habit of kolkatans about dwelling in the past helps in progressits good to romance the past but not live in it we cant lock ourselves in the past pasts are the foundations for our existence and any progressive person will understand that when we see an old building being razed to the ground just because there will be a mall coming up something happens to us of course we will all go to the mall and enjoy our coffee in the food court yet a romantic mind will also recreate the history thats lost while the building is being razed to the groundcoming back to theatre what do you think is the status of hindi theatre in kolkata today how has this association helped youi started off with hindi theatre it helped with my diction the pronunciation of hindi words the flow of the dialogues and the richness of the language have all contributed in shaping me as the actor that i am today but as far as hindi theatre goes there is not much progress today hindi theatre is a minority within minorityare you calling theatre an art for the minorityyes couple of theatre success parties at ballrooms is no indications of the fact that theatre is booming or a resurgence of theatre in bengal there are few names who are enjoying their place under the sun the rest are fading into oblivion there are a whole lot of youngsters who are waiting in the wings they might be 10 years younger than me i know that they are not getting that backup opening i was lucky enough to get one and also have my breathing space but the others might not be as fortunate the big groups which are getting grants from various cultural departments should allocate some portions of the grants to promote a young director who comes with a new thought that is absolutely different from the main person of the group who runs the show i havent seen much of it happening in bengali theatre all you get to see is a big theatre group staging new productions again and again but frankly many are just copypasting each otherthats quite a strong remarkbut thats the truthwhy do you think people in kolkata like to watch hindi movies but arent that forthcoming when it comes to hindi plays unless of course it involves a big namewe are in a nonhindi speaking state i associate myself with theatre in general not with any language of theatre i am fluent enough to carry on a twohour show in hindi english and bengali unfortunately hindi theatre unlike hindi films gets restricted because of the language issues the paradox can be seen from both sides while hindi theatre has not been able to build up that audience the audience has not been mature enough to transcend and look beyond the hype that stars generate when they choose to do hindi theatre the audience here should