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Millions of jatra fans must have been shattered after watching on TV or hearing the news about the decision of owners to shut down their jatra parties from this year today. The decision does not just leave the fans feeling a lump in the throat; it also threatens to throw the thousands of artistes, playwrights, musicians, technicians and others who depend on it to the wolves.
On the face of it, the Jatra Troupes Owners’ Association perhaps had a point when it asserted that burgeoning production costs - with the elaborate stagecraft, new age lighting, high-cost props and 'record dance' – had made running jatra parties unviable. But who made jatras a high cost affair in the first place? Who made the props more important than the performance? Who raised the remunerations of top artistes to unviable levels in a no-holds-barred exercise at one-up-manship? Certainly not the jatra-goer.
As someone commented sarcastically on social media, it was not the viewer's demand that forced the owners the likes of Amisha Patel and Shakti Kapoor!
Questions can also be raised about the other assertion made at the press conference: the inability to raise ticket prices. Now, who fixes the prices of tickets? To the best of this columnist’s knowledge, the government – or any authority appointed by it - does not come into the picture at all. If the high production costs warrant a hike in prices, nothing stops the owners from going ahead with it. Why assume that the viewer will not pay it?
If the enthusiasm for jatra – even in a supposedly cosmopolitan ‘Smart City’ like Bhubaneswar – is anything to go by, diehard fans would give their right hand to partake of the pleasure of watching a jatra performance. One just has to see the sea of humanity on the national highway making its way to Khandagiri during the Magha Mela to realise the enormous interest in jatra among people. Even with four, five troupes performing simultaneously for nearly a fortnight, there is hardly a show that is run with empty chairs. The originally scheduled duration of the jatra performances is extended almost every year on ‘public demand’. With large sections of the rural population having no access to cinema, the other major avenue of entertainment, things cannot be very different in rural areas. If anything, the love for jatra could be even greater in the countryside.
Top jatra artistes and playwrights engaged by frontline parties are reported to be commanding hefty fees that are the envy of artistes in other art forms. No wonder, Odia ‘film stars’ have made a beeline for jatra because they are paid so well. There is this well known story – which could well be apocryphal – about Agriculture minister Pradip Maharathy - the owner of Kalinga Gana Natya and one of those who addressed the press conference today – luring famous jatra artiste Mahendra Das away from another party with an irresistible offer when he was at the peak of his popularity a few years ago. What all this tells us about the economics of jatra? Certainly not that it is an unviable proposition.
For argument’s sake, let us accept for a moment that the economics of the trade has indeed made it commercially unsustainable. But does the solution lie in shutting down jatra parties altogether? The least the owners can do is to make an honest effort to get real, cut down on the production costs and unsustainable pay packets to top artistes (most artistes get a pittance by way of remuneration, mind you) and make an honest effort to make it a viable proposition again. The owners cannot just ignore the major stakeholders – the audience – and must give it a choice between watching jatra for its props or for good performances.
And we should not forget that the threat, if carried out, would seal the fate of thousands of artistes, musicians, technicians and others who earn their livelihood from jatra. As everyone knows, they are in it more out of passion than as a profession. This is what they have done all their life. Shutting down jatra parties would leave them with nothing to fall back on and may even force the lesser paid among them to starve. If nothing else, we must find a way to keep jatra parties afloat for their sake.
The criticism of the government too appears to be uncalled for. After all, government agencies cannot be expected to give them permission as a matter of routine without paying due attention to security, hygiene and fire safety. There is always the possibility of something or the other going wrong in an event where a large number of people congregate. The Association has done well to make it clear that it is ‘willing’ to talk to the government on the ‘problems’ faced. But one does get the impression that the threat to shut down is nothing but en effort to arm-twist the government to give it concessions that it may not rightfully deserve.
Even for this columnist who has not seen a jatra performance in years, the sheer thought of not having something that has been such an integral part of our cultural landscape for so long is disquieting. Long buried memories - of slipping out of home in the dead of the night (after parents went to sleep), spending sleepless nights watching performances, laughing and crying at the performances – come flooding back to take one on a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
For heaven’s sake, find a way out. Shutting down jatra parties is no solution.
