Interview

Interview with SHRI A. NATARAJAN, Former Director, Doordarshan

who presided Mudhra's Seventh Fine Arts Festival on 7th December 2001



	Radha :	Basically you have interest in all branches of fine arts, how did it come about?
		I belong to a family of musicians, I hail from a small village in Trichi District. Concerts by stalwarts used to be held during Sri Navami in our village. These concerts would start by 9 P.M. and continue till 2 - 2.30 a.m. I remember hearing stalwarts like Mali, Madurai Mani Iyer, etc. I also had music as part of my curriculum. If you see in our village , there were many musicians living then.
	Baskar :	You have a great passion for Tamil literature...
		Yes, I have always been a voracious reader, I used to read works of authors like Kalki, Anna, Kalaignar, Jayakanthan. By nature, I have a liking for drama, dance, music, etc.
	Radha :	Later on, did you pursue music seriously?
		No. In my college days, I had a greater passion towards writing. So, I stopped with having adequate knowledge to be a rasika of music.
	Baskar :	What kind of books have you written?
		Mostly fiction-drama, short stories and novel. Now I am also writing non-fiction books. I have also got a lot of awards for my novels. I got the best novelist award from the Government of Tamil Nadu.
	Radha :	What are the subjects usually dealt by you?
		Mostly subjects based on fine arts like music and dance. In fact, I named one of my book as Kalyanavasantham, which you may know is the name of a raga.
	Radha :	When did you join Doordarshan?
		In 1963, I joined All India Radio at Trichi. Later I was posted at Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Coimbatore and in 1987, I came to Doordarshan.
	Radha :	Was your work in AIR related to music?
		No. Just because I know music, I did not work in that area. In fact, I was taking care of the current affairs only at AIR.
	Radha :	Did you give special focus to Karnatic music after coming over to Doordarshan?
		Even when I was in AIR (Coimbatore), I did quite a bit for music. I introduced the RTP for one hour, every Thursday. Music on Doordarshan was earlier only Chennai based but once the link was given to Kodaikanal, television could be viewed all over Tamil Nadu. It was my wish that all centres should be represented and so I got artists from all centres of AIR to perform for Doordarshan. Again with the coming of the second channels, I was able to allot more slots for music.
	Radha :	Now, the problem faced is that of music being commercially unviable......
		Cultural aspects, health aspects, literary aspects - such things cannot be commercially viable always but for this reason, they can't be totally ignored. Now, music lovers will view music programmes at any time, we do have committed viewers.
	Radha :	You created this novel idea of making Sabhas record live concerts for Doordarshan?
		It is not practically feasible for Doordarshan to personally record concerts held in different parts of the city. If the Doordarshan setup has to go to a sabha, a large camera crew is needed and we need place to park our OB van which may be a hindrance to the nearby area. Of course, 15 years back Doordarshan did accomplish this - but it was possible to cover only one sabha at a time. With the concurrence of Delhi authorities, I created a special scheme where the sabhas were paid a particular amount to record some of their concerts for Doordarshan. This was done in all the Doordarshan Kendras. It was well received .
	Baskar :	Was this practice already there in North India?
		No, in fact, they saw our scheme and then implemented the same thereafter seeing our reports from Tamilnadu..
	Baskar :	Is classical music in general commercially unviable?
		When we recorded concerts for special occasions, we even cut it in between to insert commercials. So, we can't really generalise this. For example, there may be some products which may gel with the `Mangala Isai' programme, these areas could be tapped.
	Baskar :	Other Satellite channels do not seem to give any focus to Karnatic music....
		I feel that though the priority of private channels may be different, they do feature Karnatic music. For example, last year Vijay TV conducted the Margazhi Mahotsav which had considerable aesthetic value.
	Radha :	But if you calculate the time allotted for classical music, it is very meagre. Your example of the Margazhi Mahotsav is an annual occurrence only...
		I do agree. We could probably experiment on having a full channel for music and dance. But you must remember that private channels are dependent on commercial viability. All right, you may push something on the media for a year or two, but how long can we continue doing that? We must try to inculcate a taste for classical music among sponsors and the audience also.
	Radha :	What we see as classical music on private channels, is only at a mediocre level. We have never had stalwarts perform, all we get to see are the young`stars" and young`sters' perform....
		Private channels are wedded to certain principles, it is upto the audience to express their views so that things may change for the better. As far as Tamilnadu is concerned, first is cinema, second is politics or vice versa. Now, health awareness is also getting importance among people. Book reading is also gaining prominence. Similarly, many music related subjects are also being dealt with at large by papers and magazines.
	Baskar :	Some Karnatic musicians also sing in films. Does singing in films enhance their popularity?
		That is only one aspect, but they have not compromised on quality just because they are singing for films.
	Radha :	What are the means to be adopted to bring the younger generation into the field of Karnatic music?
		We generally don't take our children to concerts, why is it so, even in the case of "All are welcome" concerts? We must develop a taste for music among youngsters. The present generation know A.R.Rehman, Ilayaraja and Deva - they should be taught to know Karnatic musicians the same way. If you see in foreign countries, most families try to keep affinity with our music and culture. Here in India, we don't realise its value.
	Radha :	Do you think that teaching music to children at an early age will help in better music appreciation?
		If the basics are taught to children, it will definitely help.
	Baskar :	Is it necessary to understand the technicalities of music to appreciate it
		It is not essential to have a very deep knowledge, but knowing the basics is necessary. I have seen some musicians demonstrate the tala and structure of the pallavi before performing it. This aids in better enjoyment of music.
	Baskar :	What do you think about the growth of sabhas in Chennai?
		We can't expect things to happen as in the past, I remember concerts at the Tamil Isai Sangam going on till 12.30 in the midnight. After the concert, buses used to be available at the sabha premises itself. In fact, even the conductors and drivers used to listen to concerts then ! Now this is something unimaginable. But of course, there has been a tremendous growth of sabhas over the years. Because of the time slots and multiple programmes in each sabha, organisers are compelled to make an artist wind up when his time is up, immaterial of whether he is at the peak of his creativity then.
	Radha :	With so many artists performing ,what is the yardstick for evaluating `quality' music?
		Even earlier, there was a slot for junior artists. There is a great deal of enthusiasm among artists and sabhas give them an opportunity to perform. Probably, sabhas could get together and divide the junior and sub-junior artists among themselves so that they don't get repeated in all the sabhas. This will enable to pull better crowd also. Of course, this can't be applied to top artists who are always in demand.
	Radha :	You may have observed that some artists are dormant throughout the year but are featured only in the December festival. How does this help towards the growth of the `art' and the `artist'?
		Perhaps, the December season is an occasion for them to practice!
	Bhaskar :	Regarding dramas, what is your perception?
		I have seen dramas by Nawab Rajamanickam, Sahasranamam and others. At that time, there were limited troups but now a number of amateur troups have emerged. Earlier, one had to go to the hall to see dramas. Now, one can hear and see drama through the radio and television - science and technology have played a major role in this. Everything is coming instantly to us now.
	Radha :	Be it drama or music, we see that `entertainment' based ones are gaining more recognition than value based ones...
		In this fast paced life with so much stress around, people would likje to have music or drama as entertainment based. There are vibrant rasikas too, we can't deny that there is a sizeable audience who are really knowledgeable and like to listen to real serious music.
	Bhaskar :	Have you documented any music in Doordarshan for the purpose of archiving?
		Yes, we have done it. The best of our music like Semmangudi, M.S.Subbulakshmi, Pattammal, MLV, etc. have been documented.
	Bhaskar :	Have you made any attempt to create a library of this collection so that it can be made easily accessible to the general public?
		Doordarshan cannot do that but organisations like Sangeet Natak Academy can take up this project. This will definitely enable the younger generation to be more aware about our rich musical heritage and the stalwarts who adorned it.
	Bhaskar :	What do you think about the future of Karnatic music?
		The future will definitely be bright, it should be so. I am very positive in approach and feel we should never compare the present with the past. Thank you !