ABU: THE VOICE FROM BEHIND

By Daniel F DE Souza

A LITTLE OVER ten years ago when I had interviewed the doyen of the Konkani stage, the late C. Alvares, at a city hotel in Margao, I was personally introduced to this man by Alvares himself.  Alvares then spoke highly about him and the contri-bution he had made to the Konkani tiatr stage.

Thereafter down the years, I would occasionally meet him in the green room. Quite an unassuming man and with no tell-tale signs to associate him with the Konkani stage whatsoever, ‘Babu’ has carved a niche for himself on the tiatr stage merely by working behind the curtains.  I met ‘Babu’ after a gap of many years at the film shooting of ‘AXIRVAD’ a video film by Jesus Antao recently. During breaks we chatted for a while and Babu enlightened me on his association with the tiatr stage.

Although his birth name is ‘Surendra Babu Rankale,’  he is known in the entire dramatic fraternity simply as ‘Babu’. At 58 years today ‘Babu’ commands a lot of respect and admiration for his committed service to the Konkani tiatr stage. He is one man that the tiarist fraternity have been closely associating with for backstage support for more than three decades now.

‘Babu’ has been ably handling the professional role of a backstage ‘Prompter’ for the last 35 years, having  taken up this profession from the young age of 23. He completed his education at Model High School, Margao, also known as the famous Bhatikar School. He finished his SSC in 1964. While a student in Bhatikar School he actively participated in Konkani plays and that was how he had his first brush with Konkani theatre.  Talking to ‘Babu’ I had a little insight into his professional as well as personal life too.

Tell me Babu, how did you first come in contact with tiatrs and tiatrists?
As a young boy in the early sixties, I would unfailingly watch the ‘khells’ performed on the ground. This was the only source of entertainment for Konkani lovers in South Goa then. Margao was the central point for convergence of all such artists who resided in the neighbouring villages. I had a fascination for these ‘khells’ as they called them then. Being a regular at these shows, somewhere down the line I came in contact with writer/director Patrick Dourado. He was the first director who actually initiated me into the prompting profession in the year 1968.

What actually prompted you to take up ‘prompting ‘ and not acting as a career ?
As far as I remember, these ‘Khell’  that were performed on the ground had no full length written scripts as such in the earlier stages.  A brief noting of the storyline was all that was there. The director would explain the story and the dialogues to the artists in detail. The artists would then memorise the dialogues by heart as told to them. The old artists were of very high caliber and they would do exactly as they were told.

But, Babu that does not answer my question…..
I am coming to that. I was fluent in spoken as well as written Roman Konkani. Thanks to my studying Portuguese up to ‘Premeiro Grau’ and a little beyond, I did not answer the exam for ‘Segundo Grau’. This gave me  the confidence to write Konkani. Seeing this ability in me, it was Patrick Dourado who first asked me to assist in writing the script for the ‘khells’. Thereafter, I would assist the artist at the rehearsals with this written script. The script was merely written roughly on pages, no note-books as such then.  With the help of these pages containing the script, I would assist Patrick Dourado to carryout the rehearsals. This was how prompting just happened and I was propelled onto the back-stage as the official prompter, a profession that I am continuing till date.

Did you not consider switching over roles…..I mean take to acting or singing?
No. I had no wish nor desire to be an actor. I developed a liking for prompting and I knew I had to stick to the same. And I did just that. I have no regrets on this count.

Tiatr was predominantly a Catholic field, did your being a Hindu pose any hurdles along your way?
Honestly speaking my parents hail from Maharashtra, I was born in Goa and brought up in Merces before shifting to Margao. This helped a lot. My fluency in Konkani with a typical Goan accent and the advantage of writing in the language worked heavily in my favour. All the senior artists took an instant liking to me and encouraged me too. They were also impressed with me, for despite being a Hindu, I was very much at home with the language and the liking for ‘khells’. My Hindu background did not have any adverse effect in my chosen profession.

Can you name a few writer-directors for whom you have rendered your professional ‘prompting services’?
Though it is difficult to recollect the names of all the tiatrs that I have worked as the prompter, I can certainly remember the directors. I have had regular ‘prompter’ assignments for Patrick Dou-rado, Prem Kumar, M. Boyer, Jacinto Vaz, Late C. Alvares, Late Robin Vaz, John Claro, C.D’Silva, Wilmix-Sharon, Fr. Planton Faria, Jr. Rod, Joaquim of Trio Kings, Remmie Colaco, Star of Curtorim, Premanand sangodkar, Anil-Fatima, Comedian Succorine, Shalini, Mike Mehta, Socorro de St Cruz and several others.

Can you share your experiences as a prompter?
Well the scenario has completely changed now. Things were very much different before. There is more professionalism on stage now. Earlier a tiatr director would have maximum six to eight rehearsals, may be even less depending on the time schedule before going live on stage. As a result, the artist would depend  on prompting for their dialogues. It is not so now. The present lot of tiatrists and specially so the non-stop show artists  are very professional in their approach and have done away with ‘prompting’ in their shows. They conduct many full length rehearsals, as well as dress rehearsals and memorise the dialogues this is one reason why they don’t need the help of prompting. This is a welcome change.

Does this mean that your profession is now rendered  redundant ?
No, not exactly. First of all I have never taken up prompting assignment for any non-stop shows in my career. I was a dedicated prompter for tiatrs only. Besides, tiatrs have now made a strong resurgence, and I have my fair share of regular shows with directors to keep me busy with an average of around 60 to 70 assignments in a season. I don’t take more than two shows at a given time. 

Have you written your own tiatrs?
No, not my own, but over the years, I have assisted several directors to  write their scripts as per their dictates. Besides, tiatr direction or production is no easy task, one has to face many hassles and responsibilities.

Have you received any State Awards or official recognition for your professional work?
No, so far no such thing has come my way. But, my directors and other associates are happy with my work. They have faith and trust in me and my sense of duty. That’s my biggest satisfaction and recognition. In fact this is the first formal interview I am giving to the press, thank you for remembering me. Sometime back when tiatr celebrated its centenary, my profile and other details were sought by some pressmen at the Kala Academy in  Panjim, but, I saw no mention whatsoever, in the local press.

Besides being a professional prompter do you have any other occupation or business interests to keep you busy?
Prompting assignments in tiatrs  kept me busy throughout and I sustained my family of wife and three children solely on this income. I did freelance  as a part-time motor-cycle pilot in my spare time though. I was operating from the motorcycle stand near the Bank of India, Margao.  I had a regular clientele, many of whom were tiatrist themselves. Now that my children have grown up, they didn’t want me to continue this motorcycle business.  But, I still have a urge to buy a new motorcycle and indulge in my desire.

And as we finish our chat and even earlier during the interaction I see a sense of satisfaction on his clean shaven face. He is content with what he is doing and is very hopeful that the night is still young for him in his chosen profession and there will be many more action-filled, high velocity assignments to fulfill by clutching firmly at the ‘file’ containing the script behind the semi-lite  curtains as he ‘prompts’ those crucial lines to our favourite heroes and heroines and not forgetting the villains and comedians too!  (Goan Observer)