Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Mar 2: Coastalwood director Vijaykumar Kodialbail on Thursday March 2 alleged that Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has been 'hatching a conspiracy' to push out drama artistes from Town Hall by alloting them only the new adjacent hall primarily meant for dining.

Addressing a press meet here, Kodailbail said, "The new dining hall was built adjacent to the Town Hall, but during the inauguration, district in-charge minister Ramanath Rai stated that the new hall could be used by artistes to perform drama, and also for dining purposes if the Town Hall was rented for marriage or for any other function. MCC is doing injustice to the theatre artistes by providing only the new hall which is basically meant for dining.

"The new hall has been constructed without a proper plan. Though it was constructed as a dining hall, the MCC has now done a U-turn by providing it to artistes to perform drama. The hall does not have any facilities or equipment needed for a drama, such as lighting, sound system, green room, curtains, acoustic system, and to top that, the hall has a sheet for a roof which makes it impossible to perform dramas during the rainy season.

"There was a time when Town Hall was witnessing dramas every day, but today we are in a situation where hardly any drama is being performed here. MCC is not interested in promoting theatre and drama, and is trying to bring them to an end in Mangaluru. MCC should take the initiative to reconstruct the hall, or else all the artistes will come together to protest against the same," he said.

Vidhu Ucchil said, "When a hall is constructed, there must be some primary plan or a blueprint to be followed, but in this case, its totally absent. The new hall is totally unplanned, the hall is small and has 14 windows and no greenroom. This hall was proposed as a dining hall but today it has been converted for artistes to stage dramas. They could have convened a meeting with eminent artistes to chalk out a plan and executed it accordingly, which would have been a better option, but they failed. We are saddended over the recent developments and demand reconstruction of the hall to suit drama needs."