The dream of the Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth Theatre Trust (BVKTT) to protect and preserve the huge repository of books, musical instruments, posters, and theatre properties collected by the doyen of Indian theatre is finally being fulfilled with B.V. Karanth Theatre Complex coming up at Heggodu in Shivamogga district.

The complex has been developed in association with Nilakanteshwara Natya Seva Sangha (Ninasam), Heggodu, at a cost of ₹65 lakh. Ninasam, established in 1949, had set up a theatre library facility back in 1980, and it has a collection of over 15,000 rare works on theatre. With Karnath’s collection on theatre now added, the library will be further enriched. “Probably, this will one of the very few libraries on theatre in the country,” said Jayaram Patil, managing trustee of the BVKTT.

The former director of the National School of Drama Kirti Jain will open the complex on December 2. In all, the complex will have around 30,000 books and over 1,000 audio-video documents. The complex will be open to students and faculty of Ninasam, besides visiting scholars, theatre enthusiasts, and the public, according to Akshara K.V. of Ninasam.

Music instruments

Meanwhile, the repository of rare musical instruments collected by Karanth during his lifetime, from all over India, are now at the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village in Manipal, founded by Vijaynath Shenoy.

“Karnath had over 150 rare musical instruments. As there is no person to preserve and protect them, our trust decided to donate all the musical instruments, which were stored in Karanth’s house in Bengaluru, to Hasta Shilpa. Karanth himself had agreed to give them to Hasta Shilpa following an appeal from Mr. Shenoy. Now, they are under the safe custody of curators and preserved in an air-conditioned storage facility,” said Mr. Patil.

State project was shelved

A decade ago, Rangayana in Mysuru, of which Karanth was the first director, had planned a theatre library and museum on its premises.

The Department of Kannada and Culture had also shown interest. The late H.S. Mahadeva Prasad, who headed the department, had formed a committee of experts in theatre and architects, headed by the director of Rangayana, in 2007. A facility at a cost of ₹2.5 crore was planned and a plan was sent to the government. The Minister even sanctioned ₹10 lakh as a token honorarium to the trust to part with Karanth’s collection, and preparations were made to lay the foundation stone for the ambitious project.

However, the dream could not be realised with the fall of the coalition government headed then by H.D. Kumaraswamy. “As successive governments failed to take initiative in the museum project to protect and preserve the priceless collection of Karanth, the Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth Theatre Trust, in association with Ninasam, finally found a safe place for the collection,” said Mr. Patil.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Muralidhara Khajane / Bengaluru – November 26th, 2018