This article is not completely related to music, but about the man who started the very famous Assamese mobile theater, a revolution which is so popular in Assam.
Circa1963. Development of Achyut Lahkar
modern Pathsala had just started. In a shop near the crossroad at the heart of the town, a few important persons like Kashinath Das and Tarani Choudhury were enjoying their gossip. A youth was about to pass by, when someone from among the group shouted: "Lo, young man, will you come here?" In childlike obedience, the youth entered the shop. "Young man, what are all these you're going to do?" The voice sounded grave and authoritative. "It isn't easy to manage a dozen actors in the opera and you are going to manage a hundred, that too with female ones!" With full respect to the gathering of old gentlemen, he said, "With your blessings, I believe my dream will come true." .
Blessings did come, even with active support from all corners, and with that Achyut Lahkar founded the first mobile theatre in Assam, the famous Nataraj Theatre. That was on October 2, 1963. Combining the basics of dramatic art — dance, music, acting, stagecraft with most modern technology, Nataraj Theatre stood as an institution. It moved through the length and breadth of Assam, entertaining people, urban as well as rural, for forty long years. The process enriched the cultural heritage of Assam with a unique dramatic tradition which ensured a strong foundation for mobile theatre in the national cultural scenario.
Right from the 1960s, mobile theatre has been the socio-economic base of the artistes of various performing arts in Assam. Social organisations of towns and villages cooperated and shared the small collections at performances to build up schools, clubs and other institutions. Thus, starting as an individual venture, Nataraj Theatre attained the status of a people's institution, richly contributing to the socio-cultural growth of Assam. The credit for all these rare achievements goes to the genius of Achyut Lahkar — his vision, his practical approach, determination, his dynamic leadership.
Achyut Lahkar was born on July 9, 1931 in village Bagana near Pathsala. His father was businessman Gaurikanta Lahkar, who owned a shop in the town, and his mother was Kantipriya Lahkar. Having done his primary education at Pathsala MV School, he passed his matriculation in 1949 from Bajali High School. His father passed away a month prior to the examination. For higher studies he joined the commerce stream of Saint Paul College, Kolkata. His association with the intellectual and cultural life of Kolkata brought about a qualitative change in his outlook. The first fruit of these changes in him appeared on June 15, 1952. It was the illustrated magazine Dwipawali, edited and published by him from Kolkata. The publication of the famous magazine Awahan, which was published from Kolkata, was stopped. So, he decided to edit and publish Dwipawali following the footsteps of Awahan, edited by Dinanath Sarma, the glorious son of Assam hailing from Pathsala.
Dwipawali was published according to a plan. He obtained the services of Tarak Sarma and Hem Baruah. Tarak Sarma worked in Awahan, which made things easy for him. However, when the two returned to Guwahati at the invitation of Radha Gobinda Baruah to work for Asom Bani, he faced a manpower shortage in Kolkata. In the meantime, domestic burden too fell heavily upon his head and the publication of Dwipawali had to be stopped.
After the closure of Dwipawali, Achyut Lahkar returned to Pathsala. He passed IA as a private candidate from Bajali College. Then he went to Kolkata again to do his BA which he could not complete because of domestic compulsions. Meanwhile, his younger brother Sadananda Lahkar founded the Nataraj Opera. He wished to change the Nataraj Opera, incorporating the latest techniques. As a result, the mobile Nataraj Theatre was born.
One particular attraction of Gaurikanta Lahkar's shop was that it sold musical instruments, drama dresses and make-up materials. Quite naturally, artistes of all hues came to this shop. Achyut and Sadananda had been impressed by them since their childhood. From their high school days, the two brothers began to take active part in dramatic performances. Achyut engaged himself in stagecraft, while Sadananda in performing art.
Returning from Kolkata, while he studied his brother's opera, one question struck his mind: "Can't we make theatre a moving cultural foundation like the operas?" Till that time theatre, like those of Kolkata or Mumbai, was not introduced in Assam. He wished to start it and with a new feature of mobility. He infused technology, using scientific devices and played with the lights, orchestra etc mesmerising the audience. In a huge makeshift tent, he erected two stages to give cinema-like continuity to the drama performances and also pioneered the projection of cinematic sets on stage, using pre-shot films.
Achyut Lahkar, who also made an Assamese movie – Black Money, had a close rapport with Ashutosh Nag of Technician Studio of Kolkata. Popularly known as Delu Babu, Nag was at the helm of affairs in that studio. It was Delu Babu who helped Achyut Lahkar by providing the camera at a subsidised rate for shooting his theatre sets. Delu Babu once introduced Achyut Lahkar to the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray saying, "Satya Babu , please come. Let me introduce Assam's Satyajit Ray to you." Satyajit Ray could not make out what Delu Babu intended to mean. Delu Babu explained, "Do you know what he does? He shows cinema within drama and every time, he borrows my camera. I speak of Lahkar thus because there are similarities between you two." This was an everlasting memory for Achyut Lahkar.
Nataraj Theatre folded up after 40 years of existence. During the successful days of Nataraj Theatre, Lahkar dreamt of establishing a cultural centre in the national capital which would reflect the rich Assamese cultural heritage. His other passion was for a permanent stage in Guwahati. But these wishes remained unfulfilled.
Achyut Lahkar, the producer of this unique foundation of art and culture, is a man of versatile genius. He is at once a director, a dramatist, an artistic light controller, expert in stage-decoration, writer and able organiser. The man who created mobile theatre with a commercial outlook, motivated by the idea of mobilising the services of the artistic talents scattered in different places of Assam, has deep and clear convictions regarding socioeconomic issues, political ideals and culture. To a question as to whether there should be a particular ideal for art, he said, "Right from the days of the Natya-Shastra, drama has been a powerful medium which reflects sociopolitical justice." At one time, the wave of Marxism prompted him to enact progressive plays like Arina, Ajeya Vietnam etc, on the stage of Nataraj Theatre. By the end of the Cold War, when communism waned, he lost faith in its ideals. Basically, he was a firm Gandhian. According to him, Gandhism is deep-rooted in Indian philosophy. People of India have been accepting non-violence since the ancient times. Buddha, throughout his life, and Ashoka, through his deeds, gave indestructible foundation to this ideal. Coming to his own life again, Achyut Lahkar said that he regarded the stage as a laboratory. He respected the amateur groups of dramatic artistes. "Professional and amateur are the two directions of the same art of drama. I think the amateur stages are dramatic laboratories. They can make a lot of experiments which mobile theatre cannot afford to. I have brought a number of new things to mobile theatre through search and research activities on non-professional and professional stage actions. Modern stage, electric focus, gallery, orchestra, dance-drama etc. are some examples. My appeal to the artistes and producers of the coming generation is this that they must protect dramatic art from gross commercial motives and efforts of innovation must be basically idealistic."
A stern opponent of Sakta practices of animal sacrifice, Achyut Lahkar believes in God. "I cannot be an atheist. I called my theatre 'Nataraj' because there is one above us. I think of Him as the supreme judge". Achyut Lahkar is very conscious about the issues of aggressive foreign cultures coming up in the name of globalisation. "We must preserve our cultural identity- while going to learn the cultures of the world. Every nation strives to promote the cause of its language and culture. But that does not permit cultural aggression or undermining other peoples' heritage."
In 1997, Achyut Lahkar was awarded the Kamal Kumari National Award for his invaluable contributions towards the nation's cultural life. The people of Assam expect something more, particularly from the government, as a befitting reward to this doyen of the mobile theatre. Cruel time has brought old-age ailments and sufferings of loneliness to him — a man who deserves love and support from every Assamese worth the name.
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