Mime theatre: In urgent need of attention

The performing mime artists have urged the government to save this traditional art, which is fading away due to lack of funds and attention. The artists were in Delhi recently to perform at the 3rd National Indian Mime Festival. Chandrani Banerjee reports.

Report: Chandrani Banerjee

The performing mime artists have urged the government to save this traditional art, which is fading away due to lack of funds and attention. The artists were in Delhi recently to perform at the 3rd National Indian Mime Festival. Indian Mime Theatre in association with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports organised the third National Mime Festival. “ The art is dying and it is difficult to earn a living but we will work hard to revive this traditional art for of expressing ourselves on stage,” said a mime artist Nilanjan Sarkar, who is actively involved in mime theatre for the past twenty years.

"The government is promoting the art but several problems which needs attention are still unattended. We are struggling for a proper course of mime in several universities for the past many years, but in vain. The art needs to be certified so that the people can think in terms of it as a career option.” Mime is a performing art, which is enacted only by facial expressions and without delivering any dialogues. This form of traditional art was in earlier days used to depict folk tales. Presently, mime artists use the art to create awareness of several contemporary issues like environment protection, family planning and health care.

The artists, complaining about the low income in the profession, said that each one of them worked somewhere else to earn our living. Soma Mahapatra, while talking to Zeenews.com, said, "We are bound to pursue mime as a hobby because the payments are low and we cannot think of earning a living from it. Similarly, though my father pursued this art throughout his life, he also worked alongside elsewhere to feed us. The government has to pay attention to our needs, so that we can take it up as a full-time career.”
Members of Indian Mime Theatre have decided to launch a nationwide awareness campaign to promote miming in the country. The artists will organise workshops, seminars and performances to reach as many people as possible.