The Fires Of Bathos

It is easy to see why Calcutta's once-famed theatre halls, more cultural loci than plain auditoria, can be burnt down with impunity: the arsonists are better planners and more persevering than their victims, the great amorphous, ineffectual culture-guzzling Calcutta crowds who only rant as outrage follows outrage. The fire which destroyed the 60-year-old Biswarupa theatre last fortnight, where such thespians as Sisir Bhaduri and Soumitra Chatterjee enthralled generations of theatre buffs, again exposed the collective ennui of the government, the corporation and the people vis-a-vis land sharks.

While sabotage hasn't been proved conclusively, West Bengal minister for fire services Pratim Chatterjee and detective department chief Soumen Mitra suggested that the 'accident' might not have been happenstance. The bare facts spoke eloquently: the fire occurred on Diwali night, a time when the police and the firemen were stretched to the limit and it could be argued that an errant rocket had sparked off the blaze; firemen received first information almost an hour after the fire broke and on reaching the site, they fought an angry mob protesting their delay. A strong whiff of kerosene was palpable in the charred remains. "It seemed flames had engulfed the hall from all four sides, which is intriguing," says Mitra. Adds Chatterjee: "Some people were staying in the hall illegally at nights, although it was under lock and key." A short-circuit? Forget it, power had been cut off long ago.

Suspicion was rife also because Biswarupa was the third hall in north Calcutta's theatre district to be burnt in a decade, after Star and Rangmahal. (Three other halls in the area—Circarina, Kashi Viswanath Mancha and Basudev are shut for some years now.)

Biswarupa was the name given to Srirangan in 1956. Srirangan had been functioning since 1942. It boasted the first revolving stage in Calcutta. Business started languishing in the '90s until the hall closed in May 1997. The hall commanded an area of 54 cottahs (about 750 sq ft) in prime commercial territory. An old lease lapsed in 1973 from the original board of trustees headed by G.L. Baidya. Then, one Rashbehari Sarkar took a 51-year-long lease. His daughter Jayasri Mishra is the new holder. There are conflicting accounts as to what she intends to do with the property and her talks with realtor Ramesh Bothra. Along with a gatekeeper of the hall he employed, Bothra has been arrested. Mayor Subrata Mukherjee, who promises to ensure that Star and Biswarupa do not go under, has given Mishra a clean chit. She proposes to rebuild a 300-seater hall, along with a market, and a 40-flat complex on the site, with Bothra promising to invest Rs 25 lakh in construction for a slice of the proceeds later. "Those found on the premises illegally were obviously Bothra's men," say officials. At the site were discarded pillows, clothes and mattresses, tell-tale signs that the place had been lived in. Mukherjee says he insisted on a new 600-seat hall and even waived old tax dues at Mishra's behest.

The blaze started at around 12.40 am, although firemen were informed only around 1.30 am. Twenty-three fire engines were used. Says actress Savitri Chatterjee: "It is shocking as one cultural landmark after another is vanishing, but our helplessness is more shocking." A spokesman for theatre group Chetana says: "The role of the hall owners is open to question. Do they ever approach the government, which does not own the halls anyway, for help?" Soumitra Chatterjee lamented: "This is truly a sad day for us. " Said actress Madhabi Mukherjee: "It seems I have lost a home."

The only silver lining: drama groups Shayak, Anya Theatre (Bibhas Chakravarty's) and Sundaram (Manoj Mitra's) in concert run their shows in Rangana and Bijan halls of north Calcutta, keeping the flames of culture alive. "We get good crowds and run a cooperative venture," says Bhattacharya. Perhaps other groups too should get together and do the same with other halls to bring the people back? Clearly, all may not be lost yet and the rich legacy that Gerasim Lebedev bequeathed to Bengal in 1785, staging the first public performance, may yet live to see another day.