• Women Entrepreneur

If any of us were to compete with Arundhati Nag in the race for steadfastness and passion, we’d still be at the starting line. The theater actor turned social entrepreneur, as she calls herself, spent seven years completing a project envisioned by her husband, the late Shankar Nag, and herself.

The project, drama theater Rangashankara, today seeks to be a template for the evolution of theater in India. Rangashankara, which was inaugurated on October 28, 2004, took seven years to complete due to fund raising and construction issues. “I’m an actor who built a theater for the whole community,” she says proudly.

Karnataka as a state was conducive to her project, as it has a provision for civic amenity sites. Anyone could approach the Bengaluru Developmental Authority (BDA) with a proposal to build a civic amenity. Rangashankara now stands on a land area of 10,000 sq. ft. in J.P. Nagar in a large civic amenity area that has a school, college, playground, post office, police station, school, temple and now, a drama theater.

Nag settled down in Bengaluru after her marriage to actor Shankar Nag, who was looking to start a theater group. Leaving her career in Mumbai behind, she found herself in a city that had just one drama theater, unlike Delhi, which had six auditoriums, and Mumbai, which had 10-15. Bengaluru had only Kalakshetra, which had dates available for performances only once in three months. This meant she could get performance dates for only four shows a year.

“After 42 shows a month, this measly number appalled me,” recalls Nag, primarily a theater actor. “Every theater person wants to build a theater, or at least have a place where groups can rehearse,” says Nag. During Shankar’s lifetime, the couple had decided to build a drama theater to balance the inadequacy. Though they were approached by a few interested parties from the theater community, nothing seemed to move at any significant pace. Nag and Shankar started losing their enthusiasm.“In a country that has issues like hungry people, nobody really raises funds for a drama theater,” she says.

After Shankar’s demise, Nag spent the next 10 years dealing with the aftermath of losing a husband. However, building a drama theater was still unfinished business. She had a clear cut vision for her project: a world-class, affordable theater for the masses. Well-known architect Shahrukh Mistry, who had never built a theater before, was roped into the project. “We went to all the major theaters in India and showed him what does not work,” quips Nag.

Rangashankara had to be indigenous in nature, which meant it had to have natural sound (no microphones), and be non-proscenium, with ample foyer space for people to mingle.

She also wanted it to have a bookshop and a cafeteria. “Curtains and the use of microphones on stage came in with the British,” explains Nag. The ticket system, too, was another British practice. “For the first time, art was sold and a lot of entrepreneurs came into existence,” she says.

Since part of the mandate was to be an affordable theater, this extended to performance charges as well. Rangashankara charges a very nominal fee of Rs.2,500 to theater groups on the condition that they charge the audience only Rs.50 per ticket. In case the ticket prices go up to Rs.100, Rangashankara is paid 10 percent of the ticket sales. Ticket rates never go beyond Rs.200.

Moreover, artists are not charged for anything else like lights or air-conditioning. The real cost of running Rangashankara is Rs.8,000 a day; the balance is made up for by association partners who help underwrite its expenses. Nag is also looking to hike up the theater’s rental fee to induce better quality.

Rangashankara got into production, too, over the last three years. It has also launched the AHA!-Theater for children, which offers continuous activity for kids (between 6-14 years) from all backgrounds through plays and workshops. Though technically working on a charitable, not-for-profit module, Rangashankara—managed by the Sanket Trust—has developed some revenue generating streams in the form of in-house productions, workshops and rentals.

This year, Nag plans to run the theater on a hybrid model as a well-oiled, professional machinery with a for-profit arm. She is planning a revenue model to make theater a viable career option. “I never started out to be a social entrepreneur. I just wanted to build a theater as it had to be done,” she says.

©Entrepreneur June 2010

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Arundhati Nag, drama, Rangashankara, theater