Rajasthan father-son duo to take Nautanki, Swang to global audience using Netflix

In what appears to be an upheaval of Indian folk theatre on an international stage, 'Nautanki' and 'Swang' - two Indian folk dance-drama forms - are set to take flight and present themselves before an international audience, all thanks to Over The Top (OTT) platform Netflix.

Bharatpur (Rajasthan): In what appears to be an upheaval of Indian folk theatre on an international stage, 'Nautanki' and 'Swang' - two Indian folk dance-drama forms - are set to take flight and present themselves before an international audience, all thanks to Over The Top (OTT) platform Netflix. Speaking to ETV Bharat, father-son duo Ramdayal Sharma and Dr. Devendra Sharma, who are at the forefront of the project, said the opportunity meant taking the art form to today's audience and thereby a new lease of life.

"Nowadays it is a very challenging task to keep a genre like Nautanki alive in the era of OTTs. Recently, Netflix has contacted us to prepare a series on Nautanki", Ramdayal Sharma said, saying it was a good medium to bring the 'two' closer to the youth. His son Dr. Devendra Sharma, Professor in the Department of Communication and Performance at California State University, on the other hand likened 'Nautanki' to the Opera, but with Indian roots.

"If we do not go to OTT, then we will not be able to reach the youth. Today, the National School of Drama itself is suffering because of this. When (my father) used to perform Nautanki, it used to go on from 9 pm to 6 am. It is, in a way, the Indian opera. In America, Broadway earns millions. In Western Europe, in England or Germany, each ticket sells for USD 500. Unfortunately, we here think it is only some kind of a dance number", Dr. Sharma further said.

The duo further revealed their plans to further their cause in India. Ramdayal said that he plans to set up a centre to train youth in the art form. "At the same time, if the audience is shown the right thing, then it will generate interest among the people. I have spoken to the District Collector about this. If I get support from the government, then I have a desire to do something to promote the local talent", he explained.

Both said that the government gives a lot of funds for an institution like the National School of Drama, but that they wanted to create a separate centre for the art form. "We want the government to make a separate Nautanki Center or Music Center. So that folk artists can get a platform. Devendra Sharma said that due to not having a proper platform for folk arts, nowadays young folk artists try to make an identity through different platforms like Voice of India", they noted.

While both Nautanki and Swang incorporate parts of each other, the former is generally associated with theatrical form of storytelling, while the latter, through the realm of folk dance, song and dialogue, provides a more shifting form of engagement. The arm forms are present in the Northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh.