An interesting journey to the tiatr stage

With a strong background in nattaks, Premanand’s entry on the tiatr stage was accidental. But after picking up the nuances of tiatr, there was no stopping him from giving his best and winning accolades from the audience

Premanand Sangodkar, originally from Sangolda in Bardez taluka, has been living in Margao for the last 70 years. Born on April 16, 1941, Premanand’s initial experience with performing was in the numerous Marathi nattaks that were being organised by Natekar in the village of Marcel.

“The best groups would then get a chance to participate in nattak competitions held at Kala Academy, which, at that time, was located near the EDC building,” reveals Premanand. “Dr Ajay Vaidya and Ravindra Amonkar were some of the noted Marathi nattak directors, who would take part in these competitions,” he adds.

Premanand mentions that under the tutelage of the then first CM of Goa, late Dayanand Bandodkar, Kala Academy came into existence, and later, his daughter Sashikala Kakodkar shouldered the responsibility of the chairman.

“Marathi nattaks were quite popular during that periodand were held in practically all the villages for zatras near the temples. Konkani nattaks were also organised by the Konknni Bhasha Mandal,” he informs.

“During that period, tiatrs too were at their zenith with tiatr stalwarts like C Alvares, M Boyer, Remmie Colaco and Prem Kumar scaling greater heights.At that juncture, M Boyer decided to stage the tiatr ‘Ekuch Rosto’, which comprised two households, one Catholic and one Hindu. He was confident of artistes in the Catholic household, but had to hunt for artistes who would give their best in the Hindu household,” he reveals.

“M Boyer roped in Tatoba and Alka Velingkar (spouses) for the lead roles, while Uday Bhembre and late Ulhas Buyao were also part of the cast in the Hindu family.

“Three days before the final performance,the couple backed out due to prior commitments and M Boyer began to panic. And as the first show was in Mumbai, all the tickets were sold out,” Premanand recounts. “When the director sought help from Buyao and Bhembre, they suggested my name,” he adds.

“But M Boyer would never take an actor whose capabilities he was not convinced about and so he decided to watch the rehearsals of a nattak by Konknni Bhasha Mandal which was underway at Damodar Vidya Bhavan, Margao,” Premanand continues.

After watching said rehearsals, M Boyer approached Premanand and briefed him about the role. “Shalini Mardolkar was cast opposite me and after three days, the first show was scheduled at St Mary’s Hall, Mazgaon,” he adds.

Initially, unaware of his fellow tiatr artistes, Premanand hesitated as he was not mentally prepared, but Buyao and Bhembre gave him the required boost.“Due to prior business commitments, I could not travel with the Goan artistes, so M Boyer made special arrangements to hire a private cab in order to proceed. As some artistes were from Goa and the remaining from Mumbai, the rehearsals were held at Dobitalo,” he informs.

Premanand was to enact the lead role of a bhatkar; as the Hindu artistes were all newcomers, there was a lack of coordination that was obvious. “There were talks among the other artistes about changing the lead actor, but M Boyer was firm with his decision and confident of my role. Meanwhile, Shalini, who was confident, both in nattak and tiatr, gave me the required boost,” he reminisces.

To overcome stage fear and other hurdles, he states that Shalini suggested that if one query is made by one artiste, he should counter with another four queries. But on the day of the performance, Premanand was booed by the audience, leaving the director and other artistes discouraged.

After the show, Shalini’s husband, K Salam, who was part of the film industry, invited Premanand to his bungalow in Bandra. During the course of the meal, Salam invited Premanand to watch a film shoot that was underway at Juhu.There, Salam introduced him to noted Bollywood actor Amjad Khan, who had moved from stage to screen. “Khan mentioned that acting in nattaks was difficult as it was live presentation, whereas in films there are many takes to rectify errors. That brief talk gave me a boost and we parted,” discloses Premanand.

For M Boyer’s next performance at Dobitalao, Premanand started receiving applause from the audience after every dialogue. At this juncture, he realised that whatever is penned in the tiatr script need not be delivered on stage. Instead, an artiste also needs to make his own contribution as it is equally important to raise the standard of tiatr.

When he began inserting his own inputs in the tiatr, M Boyer would ask his prompter to take note of what is added to his original dialogues. And with his excellent performances, the tiatr turned into an instant hit.

Premanand’s entry on the tiatr stage was in M Boyer’s tiatr ‘Ekuch Rosto’ in 1980 and he continued on the same stage till 2015, when he last performed for Mario Menezes’s tiatr, ‘He Kaide Kosle?’

Premanand has been in the esteemed company of tiatr stalwarts like Jacint Vaz, Prem Kumar, Remmie Colaco, John Claro, Mike Mehta, Wilmix-Sharon, Anthony Sylvester, Patrick Dourado, C D’Silva, besides new directors like Michael Gracias, Lawry Travasso, Bonaventure D’Pietro and late Anil Kumar.

With regard to acting skills, he was fortunate to portray dominant characters like that of a landlord, judge, advocate, doctor and priest. His memorable roles were in M Boyer’s tiatrs ‘Ekuch Rosto’ and ‘Ghor Dukhi Ganv Sukhi’, Prem Kumar’s tiatr ‘Vauraddi’, Mike Mehta’s tiatrs ‘Papagay Canta E Bera’ and ‘Grant Road’.

While making a comparison between yesteryears’ and today’s tiatrs, Premanand says that the former were more natural. “Today that originality is lost. Cantos penned by C Alvares and M Boyer were memorable. Comedy in today’s tiatrs is more of jokes, with no link to the main plot.There’s no natural characterisation when it comes to dress code,” he opines.

Having said that, he has also noted that in today’s tiatrs, efforts have been put through stage sets, background music, light effects and memorisation of dialogues. “Today’s tiatrists are well educated and serve the tiatr stage with dedication. Tiatrists today are particular about time management and punctuality has come in,” he concludes.

By Pio Esteves | 17 Jul, 2017, 06:11AM

An interesting journey to the tiatr stage

With a strong background in nattaks, Premanand’s entry on the tiatr stage was accidental. But after picking up the nuances of tiatr, there was no stopping him from giving his best and winning accolades from the audience

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