Sad to see the poor upkeep of auditoriums in Gujarat: Siddharth Randeria

Speaking at a recent event in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Siddharth Randeria, whose Gujjubhai series of plays is hugely popular, had expressed his disappointment about the upkeep of theatres in Gujarat. The Chaal Jeevi Laiye! actor had said, “The government has built some beautiful theatres in the state for live performances. However, the poor upkeep of these spaces is a matter of great concern. For artistes like me, who do about 250 shows of different plays in the state in a year, it is a sad development. Within months of the inauguration of these spaces, issues start popping up-be it seats not being maintained properly, sound system not being up to the mark or toilets not being cleaned. For example, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium in Ahmedabad-audiences are now hesitant to visit such places. Within months of the inauguration of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Nagargruh in Vadodara, sofas and water taps were stolen! As artistes, we have to perform under any circumstance since there are ticketed shows. But even audiences hesitate to visit these spaces now. I hope something can be done about this. In Rajkot, for instance, there is a provision where these theatres are maintained by a different institution. Maybe that can be tried everywhere.”He tells us, “I have been doing plays for 50 years and I perform in different cities of Gujarat regularly. While the government deserves kudos for opening these spaces for live performances, I am sad to see their poor upkeep. For actors, these theatres are sacred places.” Excerpts:‘There are shabby green rooms, uncomfortable seats’Many years ago, while doing a play in Bhavnagar, Smriti Irani had scolded the organisers for the poor maintenance of auditoriums. Unfortunately, not much has changed. At most theatres, the green rooms are shabby, seats are uncomfortable, and toilets are not clean. Ahmedabad is now a mega city and be it architecture or infrastructure, we are ahead of even Mumbai. But when it comes to spaces for theatre, there are very few options-like Tagore Hall and Thakorbhai Desai Hall. And most theatres are not maintained properly. I love doing Gujarati plays and the validation from my audience is very important. With poor maintenance of theatres, we are driving away this audience. Youngsters don’t want to visit such theatres, and this is impacting our culture adversely. This ‘chalta hai’ attitude needs to go. If these theatres are maintained by a different organisation, like in the case of Hemu Gadhvi Hall in Rajkot, things can improve.‘Poorly maintained theatres project a very bad image of the city’While performing at the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium in the past, I have faced issues like the curtains not opening or shutting properly, stinking carpets etc. Such poorly maintained theatres project a very bad image of the city. Once, while performing at Tagore Hall, there were no chairs in the green room, and we had to rent chairs! Some fabulous theatres like Gandhinagar Gruh in Vadodara have suffered due to this negligence. While performing once at the Sir Sayajirao Nagar Gruh in Vadodara, we found out that there was nobody to operate lights and then arrangements had to be made. At the same venue, while performing Humare Ram recently, Ashutosh Rana had to apologise to the audience because the AC stopped functioning. Isn’t this pathetic? We need to stop taking performers and audiences for granted.