Improve condition of Kalidas Kala Mandir, theatre activists tells Nashik Municipal Corporation

Nashik: The recent incident where senior Marathi actor Prashant Damle posted photographs on his Facebook account, portraying the poor condition of the Kalidas Kala Mandir — managed by the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) — has turned into a major controversy.
While the ruling Maharashtra Navnirmaan Sena (MNS) has accused the move as politically motivated, the artists fraternity has rallied behind Damle for highlighting the truth.Kalidas Kala Mandir is city’s only commercial drama theatre and Damle’s posts showed dirty toilets, broken taps, pipes, chairs and poor condition of basic amenities at the auditorium.
Senior MNS functionary and president of Maharashtra Navnirmal Chitrapat Sena Ameya Khopkar on Friday posted three videos on Facebook alleging that Damle’s posts were politically motivated.
“The city is set for civic elections and the ruling MNS is presenting its report card to Nashikites. A couple of days back 40 Marathi theatre and television actors visited Nashik and praised the beautification works done by the civic body under the MNS. Damle’s posts just within 48 hours of actors’ visit appear to be politically motivated to defame the civic body and MNS,” alleged Khopkar in a statement.
According to him, most of the drama theatres run by municipal corporations in Maharashtra are in extremely bad shape and yet Damle targeted Kalidas Kala Mandir.
While Damle was not available for comment, Nashik-based theatre activists were disappointed with the politics being played on the issue related to city’s cultural scene.
“We don’t want politics. Instead we want the civic body to take action and work to improve the situation of the prominent theatre in city,” said Sunil Dhage, executive president of Marathi Natya Parishad, Nashik branch.
According to him, suggestions like constituting a special committee for cultural affairs and reserving special funds for maintenance of cultural halls have already been given to the NMC but no concrete action was taken.
“I don’t know why the MNS has targeted Damle and what might be the consequences. But what we want is to avoid politics and work for the better Kalidas Kala Mandir,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NMC suddenly became active after Damle’s post went viral on Thursday. The civic body formed a special cell for the upkeep and maintenance of the theatres of the city owned by the civic body. The staff has started the initial cleanliness work at Kalidas Mandir.
“The work to facelift the auditorium will begin after the civic polls. Nashik Municipal Commissioner Abhishek Krishna has inspected the auditorium and has given appropriate instructions,” said Jaiprakash Jategaonkar, manager of Kalidas Kala Mandir.