Cuttack: Time is a big game changer in life. Adverse circumstances can sometimes bring penury upon the once well-to-do as it did in the case of Sagarabala Pattnaik. Passersby may have noticed a wizened woman selling tea on the roadside at Routchhak near Nuapola in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district. Well, the septuagenarian is none other than Sagarbala, who was once a lead actress in erstwhile Cuttack-based Annapurna-B Theatre in the 1970s.
While many cultural outfits and associations observed World Theatre Day on Monday, the veteran actress, who has been struggling to make ends meet from selling tea selling, walked down memory lane.
Fondly called ‘Basanti Apa’ in theatre circles in her heydays, she has played over 200 in a career spanning over 30 years.
“Family conditions forced me to take up this small business on the roadside. Acting and theatre were once my passion and profession,” she said sobbing.
Life was normal for her family till her only son, the sole bread earner, met with an accident a few years ago leaving her with no option but to eke out a living for herself, her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. “I sell nearly 50 cups of tea every day and manage the family expenses with meagre earnings,” Sagarabala added.
Born in a family of modest means in Jagatsinghpur Sagarbala set foot in Annapurna Theatre-B in 1965 despite the social taboo of women being in the public eye and started her acting career in the play ‘Bhanumatira Khela,’ which earned her instant fame.
“I played the lead role of the heroine in many plays staged at Cuttack, Puri, Baripada, Keonjahr and Dhenkanal besides working some Odia films,” she recalled.
However, the 1999 Supercyclone dealt a cruel blow to the theatre world and scores of artistes lost their livelihood. Women artistes went back to their domestic life.
“I was happy with life till an accident on December 12, 2018, left my son mentally paralysed. Then things started turning topsy-turvy and life went haywire. The only silver lining was that my son’s life was saved,” she said.
Lamenting the fate of Sagarabala, president of Annapurna Theatre-B Pranab Kar observed, “If such artistes are provided with government assistance, it would be a great honour to the theatre world.”
About Annapurna Theatre
There are two Annapurna Theatres in Odisha – A & B. The former is Puri and the latter in Cuttack. The founder of both theatres was Somnath Das from Balugaon in Banapur. He specialised in mobile theatre, going from place to place and staging plays in 1933. Later, in 1937, Odisha’s first theatre came up in Puri. That was to be the Annapurna A group.
The B group in Cuttack came up in 1942. “Before the theatre came up here, there used to be a cinema hall. It was initially called Halmukh, and later Prakash Film Hall. Somnath took the premises on rent, for Rs 2 a month, to set up a theatre and stage plays here.
The B group’s theatre was registered under the name ‘Annapurna Theatre B’ sometime in 1981-82. Juga became its president in 2006. The place was later shut down for four years due to a roof collapse on September 15, 2015. It was reopened in 2019.
