How Dr Devajit's childhood desire of collecting things helping preserve popular culture

Not too long ago, a Rs10 Mahatma Gandhi service stamp, printed in 1948, had been sold for Rs 12,000 at an philatelic exhibition in India, which according to many estimates, is one of the most valuable in the post-independence era stamps category. The rarer a stamp, or for that matter, any other collectible, is perceived to be, the higher is its market value. Any personal finance Guru would say that philately or other rare collectibles are very stable alternative investments. While there is volatility in the stock market, one can always expect a minimum appreciation of 15-20 per cent every year, on a rare piece. But this scholastic individual from Kolkata, who has a treasure trove of rarest of the rare philately, music, musical instruments, documents, currencies, pieces of literature, posters of theatre, Jatra & film, is not drawn by the intrinsic value or the likely value appreciation. He has been collecting these items ever since he was only seven year, for his 'head & heart,' Speaking to Bizz Buzz exclusively, Dr Devajit Bandyopadhyay, Secretary, Academy Theatre and a musician, author in his own rights, talks about his collections, the objectives and action plan and the way forward

The Academy Threatre Archive at the Indira Gallery has a collection of rarest of the rare stuff- from philately, film-theatre-Jatra posters to musical instruments, currency and what not? Since when have you been collecting them?

I was hardly 7, when I started collecting various interesting objects. At 11, I realised I got a fairly significant collection and developed an inclination towards that. I have all along been attracted by the history and various other interesting anecdotes attached to these.

When you founded Academy Theatre in 1984, what were the basic objectives?

The activities of Academy of Theatre centre round one primary objective: to make a research into the history of the stage, particularly its music and try to revive the interest of the masses in this history. The saga of the stage and its music is our long cherished heritage and needs to be preserved and presented before the public.

You must have had drawn up an action plan towards this goal?

Yes, of course. The action plan included:

1) Basic research in the theatre and its music along with the allied performing arts.

2) Research-oriented productions, presentations, preservations and publications.

3) To make an attempt to build up a fund for supporting the aged and the infirm artistes.

Could you mention some of the activities that the Academy has done over the years?

We have produced a number of research-based programmes on themes, pertaining to the stage and its songs, more than 40 of them have been received with high appreciation and admiration. We have been regularly arranging seminars, symposiums as well as workshops on theatre, music, jatra, films, paintings and puppetry. Academy Theatre has presented academic and musical productions on various regional channels and national network. We have participated at various national and international festivals with our productions.

We have published duo-biographical compilations-Vincent Van Gogh and Tagore-among the multiple perspectives along with several audio CDs of manchagaan (theatre songs).

With our archival preservation, we have enriched various definitive publications in the field of performing arts and literature. To be specific, our archival collection includes a wide range of materials: manuscripts (dated back to 1779), slides and photographs (dated back to 1869), musical instruments (dated back to 18th century), disc records of 78 rpm (dated back to 1902) along with 33 as well as 45 rpm, compact discs, audio-video recordings of the performing personalities and events related to stage and music of India and abroad. We have published materials dated back to 1805 and our library has over 30,000 books and issues of over 5,000 periodicals as well as rare treasures in its stock. A large number of holdings are novel and not to be found anywhere else. Besides, several performers of yore of theatrical and musical companies have been provided with financial, medical and allied assistance.

Talking about your collections, what kind of special collections do you have?

Let me mention them category wise.

Theatre: Theatre, including musical theatre, both audio and filmised versions of the stage productions in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Gujrati, Oriya, Tamil, English, French, German and interviews and play-readings from past to present stage icons are preserved physically and digitally. The rare booklets, posters, tickets, photographs, publicity materials, stage-crafts, designs and scripts- printed and hand-written.

Film: Film-both silent and talky, feature and documentary, musical and experimental, national and international along with the interviews of the film-makers and the making of the film from the nascent period are conserved. Some invaluable booklets, music books, lobby cards, posters, photographs, scripts, awards, publicity slides and other materials have been restored.

Jatra: The oldest native tradition of the dramatic performances and oral folk form of musical theatre, vehicled by Chaitanya in the 16th century are preserved.

Literature: The oldest collection of the book is Colebrook's Dictionary published in 1805 whereas periodical is Digdurshan dating back to 1818 and the manuscript of Vidyasundar, dating back to mid-18th century and the rare Battala editions of 19th century.

Philately: Both postage stamps and first-day covers from the late 19th century along with related information in print are conserved to celebrate the historical, cultural, social and political events and personalities.

Instrument: The archive is treasured with Veena of 18th century, Sarengi-Sitar-Sarode-Organ of 19th century, gramaphones, tape recorders, camera, projector of early 20th century along with the rare bioscope.

Document: Both legal proceedings like agreement, orders as well as share transfers since 18th century and personal belonging like playing cards with the print of nautch girls, calendars and hand-written letters of celebrities, ground plans of theatre and the auditorium, monumental buildings of educational and cultural institutions from 19th to early 20th century.

Currency: Coins and paper notes of the 19th century British India, from the regime of several Nawabs of India, foreign currencies.

It is said that a collector of coin or paper money, must do one's homework well. One must learn how to recognize a counterfeit, investigate what 'antique' means, which can be difficult as there are no set regulations and interpretations differ, before beginning to deal in these area……

First, let me make it absolutely clear that I am not a collector per se. Whatever I collect, preserve, conserve (be it currency or other stuff) - I do so because they are like my brain teasers. Having said that, yes I do follow all the checks and balances and follow all mechanisms to evaluate authenticity and genuineness. And mind you that I have built this large repertoire by singing and performing in Kolkata, other parts of India and abroad.

You've mentioned that you've built a fairly respectable repertoire. So what's next?

At present, the archive and Indira Gallery are housed at one floor of my ancestral property. My dream is to build full scale, state-of-the-art building or complex that will draw researchers, scholars, connoisseurs of music, literature, film, theatre, jatra, history. Millions of aficionado of music, art, literature, film, theatre, philatelia, currency (mind you they also reflect socio-cultural-political richness of a society and country) will make it a destination it itself. And what have been my brain teasers all these years will become food for thought for million others in the days to come.