HYDERABAD, July 12 Stage plays with obscene and lewd dances as major attractions have pushed serious story-based dramas with a message for society off the stage.

Artistes, producers and office-bearers of the Hyderabad Stage Council (HSC) blame 'mafias' for the destruction of serious stage. “People who want to make money by any means have occupied the stage,” they said.

Stage play, a regular feature of the city's cultural life, has been on the wane since early 2000 when the mafias stared making inroads into the field and now they rule the roost after forcing serious theatre off the stage.

What the HSC office-bearers said at a news conference last month about harassment of organisers and artistes is only half-truth. They conveniently ignored their own role in the crisis confronting the theatre today.

Stage plays at the renovated Open Air Theatre have always been a great entertainment for people.

Hyderabad stage lagged behind cultural centres of the country in producing artistes of calibre.

The city has produced celebrities like film star Mohammad Ali, Shahnawaz Ghumman, Saqi, Mustafa Qureshi, singer Saleem Javed and compere Sultan Sheikh.

Gone are the days when they used to write script and get artistes rehearse their roles before a play. The pseudo producers of the plays have now thrown genuine producers and scrip writers into oblivion and as a result artistes too have changed their minds and lost interest in rehearsal because the plays are dominated by vulgar dances by 'girls' alone.

It gives good monetary returns to the “producers” in the short term but the message, which the plays used to communicate to society, remain largely missing.

Such plays often lead to trouble for organisers themselves when their audiences turn violent or unruly crowds force their entry into the theatre premises.

If they do not find 'proceedings' of the show to their expectations they start making catcalls before brandishing weapons or even firing in the air and throwing different things at female artistes performing on stage.

The organisers allegedly sell pictures of known artistes on the cards who actually do not feature in the play to attract the crowds.

“I won't perform here (in Hyderabad) ever again. How I and my two colleagues saved honour by taking shelter in the theatre's washroom is a nightmare for us,” Ghazala Naz, an artiste, told Dawn referring to a recent incident at the Open Air Theatre. The miscreants had made it difficult for her and colleagues to keep performing on stage.

“Now people come to see our bodies when we perform. It is too vulgar now not a stage play in any sense. This disease has come here from Lahore. People won't appreciate if we show a good step in the dance but they will burst into appreciation if they see the dancer's figure,” she said bitterly.

An old producer, Malik Yousuf Jamal, forcefully argued that the present kind of theatre should be banned. “It is advisable that ongoing plays must be banned and theatre-friendly and sensible people should sit together to revive serious theatre in the city which used to be its hallmark.

“I firmly believe that it is more of a variety show where girls are made to wear short dresses to entertain the crowd,” he said.

“A mafia has destroyed values of theatres to serve their own vested interests. This mafia has made dances the only essential part of the drama,” a local script writer, Syed Sarwar Nadeem, observed.

The HSC's own credentials are disputed. People like Jamal believe that the HSC has no credibility because its elections are not held in a proper manner. The HSC office-bearers though reject his claim.

“A body was nominated and a majority of its office-bearers either have no business with theatre or they don't have any know-how of stage play,” Jamal alleged.

Theatre promoter and HSC governing body member Abdullah Khan admits that serious stage play has almost disappeared. “People, who believe in orgies, have occupied the stage. Earlier, they were regular visitors of red light area but now stage has all ingredients for their pleasure,” he said.

He disagreed that differences between organisers and producers could be ironed out. “People are interested more in 'songs' than story. Script writers are not coming up with new subjects. They tend to repeat old themes,” he said. HSC senior vice-chairman Sattar Pervez agreed that people without theatre experience had occupied the stage. “I have been part of the stage for past 30 years and the situation has deteriorated over the past nine to 10 years when pseudo-organisers invaded the stage,” he said.

Lack of security is a major problem at the theatre. According to Hyderabad DPO Javed Alam Odho, it is not possible for police to provide man each and every point of the city.

“Police are already under-strength. We are not watchmen. We have other important jobs to do,” he said.