Goan Khell Tiatr- Non Stop Drama. (by Alyssa Rebello)

Khell-Tiatr is a musical drama of Konkani Stage. It has one story running from the beginning to the end with many songs which are related to the theme of the play. It is just like an opera with songs and dialogues based on the story line. Such dramatic forms are found practically in all languages.
There was a time when the popularity of tiatr was on the decline and the graph of popularity of ‘Khell-Tiatr’ was very high. It is for this reason that most of the new artistes produced and acted in Khell-Tiatrs and not tiatrs. But when time passed and it started giving insufficient financial returns, the writers/directors of Khell-Tiatrs started introducing songs (Kantaram) in Khell Tiatrs just like in Tiatrs. This was done to attract people.
Late Rosario Rodrigues - a very popular writer, director and actor of Khell-tiatrs in the 1970s. Had totally dedicated himself for the promotion of Khell-Tiatr and was one of the few artistes who made sincere efforts to improve the quality of Khell -Tiatr. He even used to carry his own stage setting from place to place to stage his dramas. In order to attract people towards the Khell-Tiatr he went to the extent of even re-naming Khell-Tiatr as ‘Non-Stop Drama’ which became a craze among the people at that time. Even today, there are many writer-directors on the tiatr stage who are the products of Khell-Tiatr or Non-Stop Drama thanks to late Rosario Rodrigues.
In order to promote and preserve Khell-Tiatr, Kala Academy Goa organises a Festival of Khell-Tiatrs every year. Tiatr Academy of Goa too has announced financial support to the troupes participating in the Kala Academy’s Khell-Tiatr Festival. However, It was really disturbing to see the Khell Tiatr festival being cancelled due to poor participation. It is a shame because every writer/director in Goa produces at least two tiatrs and sometimes three every year but they could not produce one Khell-Tiatr to keep the tradition of Khell-Tiatr Festival going. Is it because Khell-Tiatr is not financially beneficial?
I feel it is the duty of every artist on Tiatr stage to preserve Khell-Tiatr for posterity. Hence let us make concrete efforts to preserve and promote Khell-Tiatr – the musical drama of Konkani Stage.