Types of Theatre's in India :

 

Ahiritolla Kristi Natya Gosthi - A theatre group in Kolkata(Calcutta)

Ahiritolla Kristi Natya Gosthi was founded in January of 1990 by three young boys Anjan, Debtanu and Ayan all aged seventeen. Their sole motive was entertainment, to themselves as well as to their friends and family.

The next three years passed by in thinking out what exactly was to be done to meet their goal. In that time the membership of the group had grown from three to over fifteen. Finally, in early 1993, the group decided to provide entertainment in the form of theatres. It was decided that every year they are going to perform once and whole planning and effort of the group was harnessed in such a way that they were able to put up one performance every year.

The audience was almost always composed of friends and family of the members of the group. The performances of the group were always appreciated by the audience not only because the performers were their sons or daughters or friends, but because of the true entertainment they provided.

The group has had its share of highs and lows, many people left the group during its decade long evolution, but the resilience of the group always helped the group to come out on top. As some of the old members left, new members were always there to take their places.

The saga of good performances continued every year. In 1995 an incident changed the whole mindset of the group in terms of its approach and attitude. Till that year, performances were mainly sponsored by the group members and the advertisements that were collected from outside. After the show of "Megh Bristi Alo", in June, 1995, the annual drama, it was decided to have another show of a drama based on a script of one of our very own members.

It was a project that captured the imagination of all the members because for the first time in the history of the group, everything was being internally composed. The script was there, the music was composed by two other members of the group and the set design and the lights were also composed by the members of the group. For the first time tickets were to be made and sold for the show. It was going to a monumental effort, but the jolt came from a very unexpected area. The company which was supposed to be the main sponsor for the show backed out of it with only a month remaining.

Most of the members were too shocked to react, but three members of the group stood up and decided that the show will have to go on, regardless of sponsorship. It was decided to raise the funds through advertisements in the brochure, ticket sales and personal fundings from the members. After a lot of struggle, the show of "Swapna, Duswapna Ebong Swapna" came up in the evening of November 15, 1995. It was really a show of strength, the play had a huge casting of 25 people. Members of some of the rival groups who came to attend the performance were clearly surprised at the ability of the group to produce that number of artists on stage at the same time.

Some even took the pain to come around and say a few words of commendation to the members. The very next day it was decided to go professional and the Ahiritolla Kristi Natya Gosthi was formally announced as a professional theatre group, a rising star in the horizon of the Bengali "Group Theatre" world. The group was formally registered in September, 1997 as S-86/286 of W.B.

Today the group is striving to compete with the big boys of "Group Theatre" and in in doing so, is already on the track doing plays for the IPTA (the Indian Peoples' Theatre Association), whose affiliation is necessary for any group to advance from the nascent stage to maturity.

The group continues to provide quality entertainment through the media of theatre and continues to bring up new talent for the theatre world. Its performances continue to bring prizes and commendations from all quarters.

To quote a most famous saying, "Ars Gratia Artis", atrs for the sake of arts.

THE ORIGIN OF THE HINDU DRAMA :

In the beginning was the Veda, and divine races peopled the earth. The RIG VEDA is the oldest portion of Indian poetry, and the most ancient monument of Aryan literature. The Rig hymns [1] extol the grandeur of nature and her forces, especially Indra the Thunderer, and Agni, god of fire celestial and terrestrial. The black-skinned aborigines of the Punjab were as ignorant of Vedic song and the polished Sanskrit in which it is embedded as the rude Anglo-Saxons were of the Chanson de Roland and the refined Norman tongue. But the churlish race that sprang from the enslaved Dasyus grew up in Aryan surroundings, and learned to speak Sanskrit. Still, there were excluded from the study of the Rig Vega, which remained a monopoly of the higher castes. The priviliged classes alone received Vedic instruction, and, by virtue of that knowledge, were admitted to the sacrament of a new birth. None else was to have the benefit of spiritual regeneration. But light fell into the darkness, and among the despised shûdras poets arose who composed out of the world-old nature lore, magic and exorcism, another Sanskrit hymnal for the use of the people. This is the ATHARVA VEDA, which had to struggle for centuries before the twice-born would reluctantly give it a place in their sacred canon. [2]

While the Rig Veda consists of prayers to the bright elements of nature, the Atharva spells are pervaded by a dread of her dark aspects, and a hankering after occult powers. The Atharva collection, though based on immemorial tradition, is chronologically younger than either the SÂMA VEDA, a book of chants compiled from Rig passages, or the YAJUR VEDA, which contains the Vedic liturgy appointed to be read at sacrificial services. [3]

After the creation of the world the golden age commenced. Peace and unity reigned on earth, and all men walked with God. Next came the age of silver, when mankind turned aside from the Divine Will, and everybody followed his own direction. Strife and bloodshed came into existence, but God was merciful, and separated the sexes, creating male and female, that love once more might bind the self-willed race. No sooner did the heart feel drawn to outward things than man lost his power of introspection. The five organs of sense were evolved in order that gods and mortals might quench their thirst for worldly pleasures. Indra, delegated by the other gods, approached the throne of the Godhead, and said: "O Brahma, we wish to feast our eyes and ears on a dramatic spectacle; deign to create the merry play for our enjoyment." And the Creator nodded graciously, and fell into a profound meditation. And out of the Divine Thought sprang the NÂTYA VEDA, that is, the Veda of the Theatre. [4] Such was the Will of the Lord who made the fifth Veda, drawing the quintessence of the drama out of the four Vedas--dance from the Rig, song from the Sâma, mimicry from Yajur, and passion from Atharva. Brahma then summoned Vishwakarma, celestial architect, that he might build a stage in Indra's heaven. The sage Bharata was appointed as theatrical manager and as conductor of the heavenly performances.

Such is the mythical account of the origin of the Indian theatre. In reality, it originated from the ancient custom of reciting the national poetry at social and religious gatherings. The Gangetic tribes were renowned for their gifted bards. The very words bhârata and mâgadha came to mean "minstrel, actor." [5] Bâna, who wrote his famous novel in the age of the Arabian Prophet, relates that the Hindu epics used to be read aloud in various places of worship throughout Kanouj, and that these public recitals were so excellent that royalty often attended. In the rainy season the lecturer's place was at the reading desk in the city temples, but during the fine months of the year the evening entertainment was given on the village green. A fellow-actor expounded the Sanskrit verses to the illiterate villagers in their local patois. The reading of the Mahâ-Bhârata would last several weeks, being continued night after night. So keen was the interest taken in the subject that the dire misfortunes of the Pândava brothers called forth many a sob and tear, whilst their happy return to Hastinapur was hailed with exclamations of joy and sighs of relief, the cottages within earshot being illuminated. When Sanskrit became too choice and high-flown for light street gossip and plain home talk, the prâkrits or vulgar tongues of India pushed themselves more and more to the front. The bhâratas and mâgadhas began to introduce vernacular versions of both epics, and gradually discarded bookish Sanskrit altogether. The interpreter, being needed no longer, henceforth took part in the recitation. Musical accompaniment and dramatic gestures added to the success of the two performers.

The oldest Indian dramas, or rather colloquies (sanvâdas), were not composed in Sanskrit, but in Prâkrit. The Mahâ-Bhârata and Râmâyana supplied no end of subjects, even as the Bible was the inexhaustable source of the mysteries and miracle plays in medieval Europe. Indeed, originally the Prâkrit Sanvâdas were mysteries too, either Krishna or Shiva acting and dancing the principal part. Favourite episodes from the Govinda's eventful life were the "Slaying of Kansa the Tyrant" and the "Binding of the Heaven-storming Titan." [6] Large crowds came to witness these open-air spectacles. The grand finale, a merry roundelay of the bright-eyed Gopis, proved a special attraction. Rival worshippers flocked in equal numbers to the wanton bacchanals held in honor of Shiva. The Vedic priesthood endeavoured to expunge whatever was lascivious or farcical in the popular cult of the two primitive gods, but the sanvâdas, with all their rippling laughter and gross licence, survived, and were even cultivated in Sanskrit literature. Some Vedic hymns have quite a dramatic character. [7] The warfare of the elements is the ever-recurring theme of the sacred Rig lyrics, and after once hymning and glorifying the striking cosmic phenomena, what was more natural than to enact the "divine persons" with dance and song on high sacrificial feast days? Thundering Indra and his wild mountain host, the whistling maruts or storm-gods; irate Agni leaping forth in the red flash of lightning; the glistening raindrops trembling with joy at their release from the burst cloud-castles; the blushing dawn announcing victorious Sûrya (the rising sun), and the dancing sunbeams upholding his gleaming banner triumphantly--forces of nature, dread or jubilant, are the dramatis personæ in the extant sanvâda hymns. But the Vedic dialogues reflect the afterglow rather than the first morning flush of the rude representations, staged in the vulgar tongue, of Krishna's and Shiva's ancient mysteries. Again, the sublime converse between Krishna and Arjun, told with consummate art in the Bhagavad Gîta, and the mystic colloquies held by Shiva and Kâli, according to the Tantras, are but a late development of the old Prâkrit sanvâdas which, even in the age of the Rig Veda, were no longer fully understood.

Every literary tongue is a stanch conservative, but the people's speech constantly fluctuates and is ever reconstructed. Consequently, writings in dialect are soon antiquated and void of interest save for the philologist, whereas a great national literature outlives the nation. The cherished traditions of the vanished Prâkrit theatre, of which we know nothing but that it must have existed, were silently absorbed by the nascent Sanskrit drama. The earliest Sanskrit plays which are preserved suddenly flash upon our sight like lightning when it breaks through a dark thundercloud. They seem perfect and full-grown as Minerva when she leapt in complete armour from Jove's creative forehead. The countrymen of Homer may well have doubted the miraculous conception of the goddess of wisdom, and questioned her fabled birth without ancestral lineage, but it is quite certain that Kâlidâsa, who generally opens the list of playwrights in native primers of Indian literature, was but the heir and successor of a long line of distinguished Sanskrit dramatists--Saumilla, Bhâsa, and others whom the poet himself acknowledges. These, too, were undoubtedly preceded by reputed writers of Prâkrit plays. This view is corroberated by the existence of an old Sanskrit treatise on dramatic art. The essay, which is ascribed to the sage Bharata, abounds in technical Prâkrit terms, most of them relating to scenic details. Bharata enumerates, at great length, those prâkrits or dialects which, in accordance with established custom, might be used for stage purposes. [8] The subsequent authors of Sanskrit dramas faithfully upheld the theories laid down by Bharata. Indeed, minor rôles were never composed in Sanskrit; the stately tongue would have sounded ludicrous on the homely lips of the vulgar who crowd and enliven the Indian stage. English literature exhibits a similar feature. Guy Mannering, gentleman, does not use sailor slang like Dick Hatteraick, the smuggler, and the provincialisms and grammatical blunders of Adam Bede's old mother widely differ from the cultured and urbane style of the Rev. Mr. Irwine. King Henry the Fifth does not speak broken English like his French lady-love, and Dickens' novels display every shade of metropolitan jargon. In the dramatic literature of India, the prâkrits hold exactly the same position. They appear amidst the glossy Sanskrit dialogue like a shabby camel driver among the rich and elegant court dresses of a native durbar. The part of the vidûshaka or jester is written, as a rule, in a dialect of the eastern provinces. Scoundrels are made to talk Ujain slang, and intriguers a patois of the Dekhan. Shâkâri, another corrupt dialect, seems to be ultimately derived from the Shakas or steppe riders who invaded India at various times. Here they learned to speak Prâkrit, but peculiarities of speech such as the sound given to sibilants showed their foreign nationality, just as the pronunciation of r or th, if nothing else, betrays a French or German resident in England. Soldiers and salesmen, publicans and pastrycooks, and the many other trades and professions introduced in the Indian theatre, all speak a prâkrit of their own, varying but slightly from one another. Gods and brahmins, kings and nobles, converse in faultless Sanskrit, but women speak Prâkrit. In one play, a celestial congratulates Shiva and Uma on the occasion of their marriage; the bride is addressed in Prâkrit, the bridegroom in Sanskrit.

The Agra district is the holy land of Krishnaism. Shauraseni, the medieval speech of the Agra populace, is frequently met with in Sanskrit plays. The Krishna cult has been successfully revived in Bengal, and numerous yâtras or melodramas have been composed in honour of the god. Yâtras are very popular in the Presidency, and preserve the Shauraseni dialect, which has long changed from a vulgar to a sacred tongue. [9]

Bharata, who has become the tutelary deity of the Indian theatre, is not a historical person, but a symbolic name like Vyâsa or Manu. The treatise which goes by his name is very prolix, and may be an amplification of the Bhârata Sûtras which are lost. It is to these sûtras, or stage directions for the use of bhâratas or actors, that Bharata owes his imaginary existence. They were written in Sanskrit, but their ultimate source was obviously some Prâkrit dramaturgy. The sûtras must be very old, since they were studied at the Universities of Hindustan before the Macedonian regiments set foot on Indian soil. The Bhârata Sûtras are mentioned by Pânini, the greatest of Indian grammarians, who is generally referred to the fourth century B.C. [10] The aphorisms were still extant at the time of Alfred, King of England, when Shivaswâmi, an Indian wit, rudely compared their obscure style to the dark waters of the Jumna. As Christian principle rests on the precepts of the Church, and as English law is administered in agreement with precedent, so the Sanskrit theatre has conformed to the rules laid down in the Bhârata Sûtras. They were held almost sacred by Kâlidâsa and other dramatists. What wonder then that a myth arose declaring that the sage Bharata had copied them from the fifth Veda, which was believed to be a creation of Brahma himself. - This document was written by E. P. Horrwitz and originally published in The Indian Theatre: A Brief History of Sanskrit Drama. London: Blackie and Son Limited, 1912. pp. 19-31.

Acting Course:

To encourage young amateurs, SRCP conducts a certified Two Year Acting Course. The course is part time and is held during the evening.
The First year is devoted to in-depth study related to all aspects of theatre. The Second year deals with the basic theatre shells, which are integrated into production of Indian Classical, Experimental, Western, and Modern Indian Dramas. Eminent expert in all aspects of theatre are invited as Faculty members. This helps to prepare a professional team of actors and actresses to sustain the future of Hindi theatre.
Students who complete the course with excellent grades are either absorbed by the SRCPA Repertory or join the National School of Drama for further studies or the Media. Some alumni who have earned critical acclaim in Movies and TV are Girish Miglani and Menaka Sharma.

Kalidas:

An Indian poet and dramatist, Kalidasa lived sometime between the reign of Agnimitra, the second Shunga king (c. 170 BC) who was the hero of one of his dramas, and the Aihole inscription of AD 634 which praises Kalidasa's poetic skills. Most scholars now associate him with the reign of Candra Gupta II (reigned c. 380-c. 415).

Little is known about Kalidasa's life. According to legend, the poet was known for his beauty which brought him to the attention of a princess who married him. However, as legend has it, Kalidasa had grown up without much education, and the princess was ashamed of his ignorance and coarseness. A devoted worshipper of the goddess Kali (his name means literally Kali's slave), Kalidasa is said to have called upon his goddess for help and was rewarded with a sudden and extraordinary gift of wit. He is then said to have become the most brilliant of the "nine gems" at the court of the fabulous king Vikramaditya of Ujjain. Legend also has it that he was murdered by a courtesan in Sri Lanka during the reign of Kumaradasa.

Kalidasa's first surviving play, Malavikagnimitra or Malavika and Agnimitra tells the story of King Agnimitra, a ruler who falls in love with the picture of an exiled servant girl named Malavika. When the queen discovers her husbands passion for this girl, she becomes infuriated and has Malavika imprisoned, but as fate would have it, Malavika is in fact a true-born princess, thus legitimizing the affair.

Kalidasa's second play, generally considered his masterpiece, is the Shakuntala which tells the story of another king, Dushyanta, who falls in love with another girl of lowly birth, the lovely Shakuntala. This time, the couple is happily married and things seem to be going smoothly until Fate intervenes. When the king is called back to court by some pressing business, his new bride unintentionally offends a saint who puts a curse on her, erasing the young girl entirely from the king's memory. Softening, however, the saint concedes that the king's memory will return when Shakuntala returns to him the ring he gave her. This seems easy enough--that is, until the girl loses the ring while bathing. And to make matters worse, she soon discovers that she is pregnant with the king's child. But true love is destined to win the day, and when a fisherman finds the ring, the king's memory returns and all is well. Shakuntala is remarkable not only for it's beautiful love poetry, but also for its abundant humor which marks the play from beginning to end.

The last of Kalidasa's surviving plays, Vikramorvashe or Urvashi Conquered by Valor, is more mystical than the earlier plays. This time, the king (Pururavas) falls in love with a celestial nymph named Urvashi. After writing her mortal suitor a love letter on a birch leaf, Urvashi returns to the heavens to perform in a celestial play. However, she is so smitten that she misses her cue and pronounces her lover's name during the performance. As a punishment for ruining the play, Urvashi is banished from heaven, but cursed to return the moment her human lover lays eyes on the child that she will bear him. After a series of mishaps, including Urvashi's temporary transformation into a vine, the curse is eventually lifted, and the lovers are allowed to remain together on Earth. Vikramorvashe is filled poetic beauty and a fanciful humor that is reminiscent of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In addition to his plays, Kalidasa wrote two surviving epic poems Raghuvamsha ("Dynasty of Raghu") and Kumarasambhava ("Birth of the War God"), as well as the lyric "Meghaduta" ("Cloud Messenger"). He is generally considered to be the greatest Indian writer of any epoch.

• Find more articles on Kalidasa

Jatra:

Jatra is a popular form of folk theatre from the Eastern region of India. It is the enactment of a play with a cast and comprises music, dance, acting, singing and dramatic conflict. Earlier, religious values were communicated to the masses through the powerful medium of Jatra.

The origins of Oriya and Bengali Jatra are quite hazy and the historians and literary critics have widely divergent views. Nevertheless, they have drawn attention to the mention of Jatra in the Natyashashtra, the bible on the arts and science of dance. They have also attributed the beginnings of dramatic presentation in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to Jaydeva's “Geet Govinda”.

In Bengal, there was a form of singing called the Carya, which was popular between the 9^th and the 12^th centuries. The commentaries on the Amarakosa mention its existence and some fragments from these are quoted in copperplate grants. The languages of these songs are considered to be a creation of sections of people who were followers of Mahayana Budhhism. There are also references to a Buddha Natak. While no definite deductions can be made from this evidence, it is clear that this was a kind of musical drama, which was possibly prevalent during that time. During the same period, the Carya Padas were popular in Orissa.

Chaitanya (social reformer) and his followers contributed to a reawakening and were responsible for bringing about a national integration in many parts of India at the cultural level at a time when all Indian regions were affected by political and economic devastation. They were the Creators, the directors of Drama and self-consciously used the vehicle of drama for religio-social purpose. History owes them the first definite presentation of theatrical spectacle where Chaitanya himself played Rukmini. This then was perhaps the beginning of the ‘Krisn jatra.’ So he is, undoubtedly, the predecessor of the contemporary Jatras of Bengal and Orissa.

Today, the style of writing plays for jatras has undergone changes. Jatra plays are now, no longer limited to the mythological, historical or fantastical subjects. They include social themes to suit modern taste.

Jatra is performed on a simple stage with the spectators surrounding it on all sides. The chorus and the musicians take their position off stage. There are no stage properties except a single seat meant to serve various functions - a throne, a bed or a way-side bench. Onstage, the actors move in a very theatrical manner. They deliver their speeches in high-sounding words and have to be loud enough to catch the attention of the spectators seated on all sides. Consequently, they espouse an exaggerated style and are heavily made up. Their costumes dazzle, their swords blaze and their words boom to the accompaniment of the crashing cymbals. Sometimes the actors depict subtle emotional moods like love, sorrow, pathos, but the element of exaggeration is always present, as they have to project themselves as larger than life figures.

As in the case of other theatre forms, the main Jatra performance is preceded by some preliminaries. Here they constitute the singing of a melody and the playing of several instruments. Many Ragas including Syama Kalyana, Bihag, and Puravi etc. are used. Singing of the same melodic line follows the playing of the instruments. Soon after the conclusion of the musical overture, a group of dancers rush in from the gangway and begin a dance. Often, the group dance is followed by a solo dance.

The Jatra forms are an important branch of the parent tree of Indian literatures, languages and theatre forms. Its survival appears to have thrown seeds, which have given modern Bengali theatre a new direction.

Kutiyattam:

Kutiyattam, the classical theater form of Kerala is second to none in terms of its antiquity. It claims to date back to 2000 years of antiquity and is the enactment of Sanskrit plays and is India's oldest theatre to have been continuously performed.

King Kulashekhara Varman reformed the Kutiyattam in the tenth century A.D., and this form continues the tradition of performing in Sanskrit. The Prakrit language and Malayalam in its ancient form have also been kept alive through this medium. The repertory includes plays written by Bhasa, Harsha and Mahendra Vikrama Pallava..

Traditionally, the actors have been members of the Chakyar caste and it is the dedication of this group that is responsible for the preservation of Kutiyattam through the centuries. Nambiars, a sub-caste of drummers, have been associated with this theatre as players of the mizhavu (a pot-shaped, large drum unique to Kutiyattam). It is the women of the Nambiar community who act the female characterizations and play the bell-metal cymbals. While individuals of other communities do study this theatre and participate in stage performances, they do not perform in temples.

Performances usually last several days, the first few being devoted to introductions - of the characters and incidents from their lives. The complete performance - from beginning to end - is performed on the last day. However, it does not necessarily mean that the entire written text of the play will be enacted. An evening of Kutiyattam begins at 9 p.m. after the close of rituals in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, and continues till midnight, sometimes till 3 am, before the commencement of the morning rituals.

Complicated gesture language, chanting, exaggerated expressions of the face and eyes, together with elaborate headdresses and makeup constitute a Kutiyattam play. Music is provided by the mizhavu drums, small cymbals, idakka (an hour-glass shaped drum), kuzhal (an oboe-like wind instrument), and the shankh (conch shell).

Prithvi Theatre:

One of Mumbai`s famous theatres, the Prithvi Theatre belongs to the Kapoor clan, one of the most influential actor/director families in Bollywood. This theatre is dedicated to the legendary Prithviraj Kapoor.Dedicated to encouraging professional theatre, Prithvi Theatre has made a conscious decision to keep its theatre rent down. Since that time, the Prithvi Theatre has endeavored to act as a catalyst to nurture and develop Indian theatre over the years.

Indian Puppet Theatre:

Puppetry or the puppet theater is one of the ancient forms of entertainment in India. Although primarily it is used as a form of entertainment; yet its importance in conveying significant meaning cannot be denied. Indian Puppet Theater developed not only as an art form but also as an effort of conveying a lot whilst uttering actually nothing. India, which has a rich history of her creativity, has slowly became a name in the rich timeline of Indian Natya with the emergence of this Indian puppetry as a typical visual art form

Bengali Theatre:

Theatre in Bengal developed as a protest against the British Raj. The seed of contemporaneousness, which was sown back in the British era, gained a rather articulate contour in the hands of the famous Bengali theatre personalities like Girish Ghosh. The famous stages in Bengali theatre still bears this rich history of Indian Natya so very expressively. The most famous theaters in Bengalee are Star Theatre, Academy Of Fine Arts, Rabindra Sadan, Girish Maanch Etc.

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Marathi Drama & Theatre:

Marathi Drama & Theatre is always considered important in Indian drama after the Bengali Dramas. Marathi theatre rose in full swing in Poona and Mumbai, with the inception of dramas by Vishnupath Bhave.There were many experimental plays, which were written in such a way, that they rationalized the old medieval performance. This led to the formation of the professional Bhave Company. The Marathi drama was still a dominant feature of Western India and it soon became imbued with national self-awareness.

Elements of Dram:

Elements of Drama is one of the important aspects of drama and Theatre. The elements involve: Thought, Theme, Ideas; Action or Plot; Characters; Language; Music; and Spectacle. Since plays are written with the intention of performance, the reader of the play must use her imagination to enact the play as she reads it. Indian drama and theatre have all these elements and followed every details.

Indian Theatre:

Indian Theatre has a history of more than 5000 years. The first treatise the Natya Shastra, was written by Bharat Muni around between 2nd century BC and 4th century AD. Indian Theatre started as a narrative form that is reciting, singing and dancing becoming the integral part of the theatre. The emphasis on narrative elements made it more theatrical and encompassed all forms of literature and fine arts.

 

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Art is alive:

Chennai is now one of the cities with a discerning eye for art. Over the years art has boomed, not just witnessed in the numerous of emerging young artists, but also the in the number of art galleries that have come up and found loyal patrons and carved a niche for themselves in the art market. Though all of them are motivated by their love of art and the need to take it to a higher level, each of these galleries has done their own bit to bring art to the city.

Apparao Galleries :

Apparao Galleries, one of Chennai’s oldest and most prominent galleries, was started in 1984 as The Gallery, Madras. Its owner, Sharan Apparao, says: “I have a degree in art history and love art. I wanted to take it up as a profession and that’s why I started a gallery.”

Apparao Galleries has promoted some of the most reputed names in the art scene and has taken contemporary art abroad through exhibitions and its export concern, Art Route. “Our role is that of an incubator. We have discovered and nurtured artists from all over,” says Apparao.

“Until a few years ago art collection was totally unheard of. Now there so many collectors and connoisseurs now and it has become a lifestyle statement to own art,” says Apparao. The gallery owner admits that it is difficult to be an artist in Chennai because the city is conservative.

But she adds, “This is one of the nicest places in the world to own a gallery, although it can be a bit insular. Since I am not doing it for the money but for the sake of art there have been more ups than downs.”

Forum Art Gallery:

Forum Art Gallery, a centre for some of the finest works on display today, was started in 1997 by Shalini Biswajit. “I started Forum in 1997,” says Biswajit, “to bring art closer to the people. While I did encourage emerging and established artists, my focus was to extend art to the common man.”

Forum organises seminars and symposiums on art and has taken exhibitions all over the country and abroad. “People are welcoming art into their homes; it is no longer a luxury but has become very much a part of everyday life,” says Biswajit.

The gallery is also involved in social causes, especially in the education of underprivileged and disabled children. It also provides support to charitable organisations and hospitals.

“One thing that makes us stand apart is that we are adding new dimensions to art. Such as art therapy, by providing it to people who are in need of healing. It enables people to deal with challenges creatively, and with the support of trained professionals children access their artistic creativity,” says Biswajit.

“We are honestly not bothered about how much we sell, we are more interested in how to include people and how to make art even more a part of daily life.”

Ayya Art Gallery:

Ayya Art Gallery came into existence four years ago, at a time when art was finally finding its spot in the sun.

Founder Kannalan Raja says, “I was in the framing and photography business for many years and had good contacts with artists, and I was interested in art. So I started a gallery.”

The gallery is a non-profit space that especially tries to promote young artists. “One of the ways in which we promote art is that we never charge rent when the artist is a student. We want to encourage emerging artists,” says Raja.

The gallery also runs the Institute of Fine Arts, set up to promote fine arts and build a generation of artists and achievers. Says Raja, “Chennai is a great place for art and has grown remarkably in the last few years. People are not only more aware of art but are also into art investment.”

Vinnyasa Art Gallery:

Viji Nagashwaran started Vinnyasa Premier Art Gallery in 1996 to promote unknown South Indian artists. An artist herself, Nagashwaran knew the difficulties South Indian artists faced in promoting their own works.

From a small space at Wellington Plaza, the gallery grew in popularity and size and moved to the Music Academy premises in 1999; it now has a bigger home in CIT Colony.

Since its inception, Vinnyasa has hosted more than 200 shows. The gallery is also available to individual artists to organise their own shows.

It aims at providing a platform for all artists who want to show their work to Chennai. For the past 10 decade Vinnyasa’s aim has been to open the lines of communication and be a forum that brings together artists and patrons.

The art gallery also holds an annual ‘Affordable Art Show’ in May and June to showcase the works of upcoming artists and to make art more accessible to all.

The gallery has successfully bridged the gap between art buyers and artists and has brought contemporary art to the common man. The gallery’s clients include corporate houses in India and abroad, as well as private collectors and connoisseurs.