Author: Sheokesh Mishra
Publication: India Today
Date: May 15, 2006
Introduction: A writer converts an unlikely
dream into a real-life art centre which has now become a cultural hotspot
Round the corner, rundown cinema halls offer
B movies at Rs 10 a pop per patron. Here, unbelievably, a 104-seat state-of-the-art
auditorium screens films by auteurs like De Sica, Godard, Fellini, Kurosawa,
Truffaut, Bergman, Antonioni, Welles and Chaplin to people who, when they
aren't watching 1920s classics, lap up recent masterpieces like Zhang Yimou's
The Hero while clustered on a sofa. Rub your eyes in disbelief if you like,
but Gaya-the dusty Bihar town known more as a destination for Hindus intent
on performing rituals seeking peace for the departed souls of their ancestors
-is now home to a magnificent centre for dissemination of the arts, offering
cinema, theatre, music and dance.
Life has imitated art-with a twist-for writer
Sanjay Sahay, 46, whose story Ek Baar Phir explored the moral dilemma of a
man who went raising funds by any means to realise his dream of a cultural
centre in his city, only to pocket the money raised. In his real life, though,
there's been no such compromise with either his morals or his dreams for the
writer, who has spent three years and Rs 2 crore to create Renaissance, the
cultural complex spread over 11,000 square feet in Gaya's Anugrahpuri locality
that's become a arthouse multiplex of sorts for culture-starved locals.
Its imposing façade adorned with stately
Gothic pillars, even as the café is contemporary cool with Rolling
Stone magazine covers, Renaissance-which was inaugurated in 2003-provoked
the US consulate's public affairs officer and director Susan M. Shultz to
exclaim, "If only this were in Kolkata." Adds Ranjit Kapoor, a scriptwriter
and theatre personality from Mumbai, who was awestruck while attending a seminar
here, "It's a cultural shock for me. I couldn't have imagined even in
my wildest dream that such a theatre facility could be possible here."
Says a justifiably proud Sahay, based on whose
short story Sheshant filmmaker Goutam Ghose made his 1994 Silver Lotus winning
film Patang, "My commitment and conviction is to provide a world-class
art ambience to our own people." Having scoured America and Europe, watching
operas and Broadway and West-End theatre productions to pick up best practices,
Sahay-helped in no small measure by his writer-wife Durvaa-returned to his
hometown to turn his dream into reality. Today, artistes from all over the
country perform here, leading to reactions such as those of the well-known
local surgeon R.K. Verma, who says, "Here we have opportunity to share
a cup of coffee with performers like Shovana Narayan and Pt. Vishwa Mohan
Bhatt. For the people of such a small city, is this a small achievement?"
While cinema remains a pride offering-Sahay
has shopped for over 400 films through the Net-Renaissance has even set up
its own repertory theatre. Last December, an expansion drive saw the addition
of an auditorium with state-of-the-art equipment and 160 seats. Today, an
appreciative Gaya throngs to Renaissance to raise its cultural quotient. True,
local cultural activists like Satyendra Kumar are cautious, saying, "It
can be a double-edged sword. While it can provide an ambience for ideas, it
mustn't promote a club culture." But fans like National School of Drama
director D.R. Ankur aren't worried. "It is a new religious place for
me," he avers. Welcome to the culture club.
