Theatre artiste, scriptwriter and director Ashish Khandakar said that theatre sector in the country was facing shortages of budget and professional artistes as people viewed theatre as a stepping stone to better things.
鈥楳any people regard theatre practice as a stepping stone to small and silver screens. Therefore, we witness a lack of professionalism in our theatre sector, which is facing shortages of budget and professional artistes,鈥� said Ashish Khandakar, who graduated from National School of Drama in India in 1991 and began his professional theatrical career in the same year.
鈥業n our country, a person acts in theatre productions on a whim and does not pursue theatre as a profession. If an artiste becomes popular acting in small screen productions or films, s/he no longer pursues theatre,鈥� added Ashish, who founded a theatre troupe Space and Acting Research Centre in 1992 and directed theatre productions, including School of Wives, Rother Roshi, The Freedom of the City, Raja Pratapaditya, Hamlet o Hamlet, Look Back in Anger, Two Strangers vs Oleander flower, Reluctant Doctor and others till date.
鈥業 always feel artistes need a laboratory to practice and improve their skills but we seem to be reluctant to accept new things and try to imitate our neighbouring country,鈥� added Ashish, who has been teaching at the Friday Theatre School since 2005, in collaboration with Alliance Fran莽aise de Dhaka, Dhanmondi. The AFD has recently introduced Friday Theatre School at its branch in Gulshan.
鈥楽tudents of performance studies have to struggle after completing their education because theatre, small and silver screens are dominated by syndicates. Therefore, talented young scriptwriters, actors and directors had to tread a difficult path in the country,鈥� said Ashish, who worked as a faculty member at Green University of Bangladesh from September 2017 to May 2019 and at State University from September 2015 to May 2017.
Ashish has acted in films, including 鈥楢dventure of Sundarbans鈥�, 鈥楥haka鈥�, 鈥楲aal Moroger Jhuti鈥�, 鈥楰aler Putul鈥�, 鈥楢ntonagar鈥� and others. He has recently depicted the character of a jamdani weaver in a short film titled 鈥楰howab: Castle in the Air鈥�, which has been officially invited to the forthcoming international short film festival titled Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2024.
鈥楢s an actor, I respect both young and senior directors. I know that artistes are important tools in films. They collaborate with filmmakers to make art. I work in films, web films, and experimental theatre productions,鈥� added Ashish, who debuted as a filmmaker with 鈥楤athan鈥� in 2008. He is looking forward to directing more feature films.
鈥楢fter directing my film 鈥淏athan鈥� in 2008, I wanted to direct another film. However, I could not find a producer to my liking. I have prepared three scripts for films titled 鈥淩adio Conspiracy鈥�, 鈥淛ourney to Ramgarh鈥� and 鈥淏lackberry鈥�. 鈥淩adio Conspiracy is based on Jagadish Chandra Bose,鈥� ended Ashish.