South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur, is one of the Seven Zonal Centres established under the Ministry of Culture to coordinate interstate Cultural events through a number of interactive programmes. Besides festivals of various performing arts, artists's meets and perform such promotional activities, the Nagpur Zonal Centre is proud to implement Research and Field Sur-vey projects in its Member -States with the advice of the respective Departments of Culture. Its aim is to bring out authoritative material on important performing art forms both in the Print and Electronic Media. Specialists are requested to undertake field survey work and preparation of Monographs as well as assisting the Centre's team in preserving the forms on internationally accepted electronic medium. The Zonal Centre is developing archives with all these materials.
The Centre is happy to publish this monograph on "SURABHI THE-ATRES" of Andhra Pardesh, a name to reckon with in the traditional theatre history of India. We are specially thankful to Prof. M. Nagabhushana Sarma, the author of this monograph and the chief Investigator of the project on "Surabhi", and an authority on Telugu Theatre for not only authoring this work but directing the team of visual Documentation.
"Surabhi", in its 120-years old history, has become a by-word for a type of traditional theatre groomed on the Parsi Theatre model, adding its own imprint of the traditional musical theatre of Andhra. Its glorious history itself serves as a mirror to the ebb and tide of Telugu Theatre. Started as a single unit by Vanrasa Govinda Rao, it branched off into nearly thirty theatre groups, all belonging to the large Surabhi family consisting of four major family-sects (with different family - "names") Vanarasa, Aveti, Rekandar and Sindhe, finally to end up with only five "companies" today. They have survived for 120 years because of this strong "family" togetherness and also because they chose "theatre" as their profession.
I have had the good fortune of being associated with the Surabhi activities for the last thirty years and I deem it a great opportunity to bring before the world theatre fraternity the unique theatrical tradition of the Surabhi Theatres, perhaps the only family professional theatre groups in India to survive for 120 years.
I take this opportunity to thank the South Central Zone Cultural Centre and especially its Director, Shri J.P. Gupta, its Deputy Director Shri K.N.K.Rao and its Asst. Director Shri Ravindra Durugkar and the staff.
I profusely thank all the Surabhi theatre groups for extending their cooperation for the completion of this project. My thanks are especially due to Shri S.A.Baba Rao, a veteran actor, music director, and manager of the 5 existing companies.
Mr.R.Nageswara Rao (alias Mr.Babaji), Secretary of the Surabhi Nataka Kala Sangham, has been with me all through this project and is responsible to bring the Surabhi people on to one platform for a festival which gave me an opportunity to interact with over two hundred and fifty Surabhi artists.
I thank my wife, Dr.M.Saraswathi, for having stood by me through thick and thin in spite of her occaasionally failing health, because of her affection for the Surabhi people.
I hope that this book will throw light on the sustained activities of the Surabhi theatres which have all the potentialites of becoming a model for traditional theatres in India.
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