'Khell Tiatr' - the musical drama of Goa

Since 2010, Tiatr Academy of Goa started celebrating thebirth day of late Rosario Rodrigues - a very popular writer, director and actorof Khell-tiatrs in the 1970s. The birth anniversary of this artiste who wasresponsible to take Khell-Tiatr to every nook and corner of Goa is celebratedon October 24. Many of the present day tiatr artistes, who came up with theguidance of late Rosario Rodrigues, strongly demanded that Rosario Rodriguesmust be remembered by TAG every year on his birthday. Hence TAG organises aspecial programme dedicated to the late Rosario Rodrigues on October 24.

Rosario Rodrigues totally dedicated himself for thepromotion of Khell-Tiatr and was one of the few artistes who made sincereefforts to improve the quality of Khell -Tiatr. He even used to carry his ownstage setting from place to place to stage his dramas. In order to attractpeople towards the Khell-Tiatr he went to the extent of even re-namingKhell-Tiatr as ‘Non-Stop Drama’ which became a craze among the people at thattime. Even today, there are many writer-directors on the tiatr stage who arethe products of Khell-Tiatr or Non-Stop Drama thanks to late Rosario Rodrigues.

Khell-Tiatr is a musical drama of Konkani Stage. It has onestory running from the beginning to the end with many songs which are relatedto the theme of the play. It is just like an opera with songs and dialoguesbased on the story line. Such dramatic forms are found practically in alllanguages.

There was a time when the popularity of tiatr was on thedecline and the graph of popularity of ‘Khell-Tiatr’ was very high. It is forthis reason that most of the new artistes of 1970s and 80s produced and actedin Khell-Tiatrs and not tiatrs. But when time passed and it started givinginsufficient financial returns, the writers/directors of Khell-Tiatrs started introducingsongs (Kantaram) in Khell Tiatrs just like in Tiatrs. This was done to attractpeople.

I am of the strong opinion that Khell-Tiatr which is amusical form of drama of tiatr stage, needs to be preserved and promoted. Thiscan be done not only by remembering late Rosario Rodrigues on his birthday everyear but by producing and staging at least one Khell-Tiatr every year. I hope,the writer/directors of today, particularly the ones who have attainedpopularity through Khell-Tiatrs, will produce at least one Khell-Tiatr everyyear.

In order to promote and preserve Khell-Tiatr, Kala AcademyGoa organises a Festival of Khell-Tiatrs every year. Tiatr Academy of Goa toohas announced financial support to the troupes participating in the KalaAcademy’s Khell-Tiatr Festival. However, It was really disturbing to see theKhell Tiatr festival being cancelled due to poor participation. It is a shamebecause every writer/director in Goa produces at least two tiatrs and sometimesthree every year but they could not produce one Khell-Tiatr to keep thetradition of Khell-Tiatr Festival going. Is it because Khell-Tiatr is notfinancially beneficial?

I feel it is the duty of every artiste on Tiatr stage topreserve Khell-Tiatr for posterity. Hence let us make concrete efforts topreserve and promote Khell-Tiatr – the musical drama of Konkani Stage.