H.N. Kalakshetra: Time to bid adieu to South Bengaluru’s beloved cultural hub  Premium

Established in January 1986, this iconic performance space —simply called “H.N.” by locals -- is named after renowned rationalist, educator, freedom fighter, and writer Hosur Narasimhaiah and is run by the National Education Society (NES) of Karnataka. Expected to be demolished by month’s end, the NES has decided to build a five-story engineering college in its place, which will include one floor dedicated to an 800-seater state-of-the-art auditorium.   

For many south Bengalureans, Dr. H.N. Kalakshetra at National College, Jayanagar, has been a place where they congregated for concerts, Yakshagana performances, dance programmes, school annual days, plays, talks and more for over three decades. But now it is time for the 600-seat auditorium to end its legacy and make way for an engineering college, with an auditorium on one of the floors.

Established in January 1986, this iconic performance space —simply called “H.N.” by locals -- is named after renowned rationalist, educator, freedom fighter, and writer Hosur Narasimhaiah and is run by the National Education Society (NES) of Karnataka. Expected to be demolished by month’s end, the NES has decided to build a five-story engineering college in its place, which will include one floor dedicated to an 800-seater state-of-the-art auditorium.   

Speaking to The Hindu, V. Venkatasiva Reddy, Secretary, National College, said that the performance space will be demolished by the end of January or first week of February and that it would take anywhere between one-and-a-half to two years for the new auditorium and engineering college to be completed.

H.N. is a place of great nostalgia theatrepersons, as since its inception the performance space has been a breeding ground for college theatre teams, which have now turned into amateur and professional troupes. Most of these troupes rehearsed here, made sets and costumes, performed and spent at least a minimum of 90 days on each production.

Recently the theatre community of Bengaluru came together for an evening of nostalgia, celebration, and bittersweet farewells where many renowned troupes, senior theatre artists including B. Jayahsree, Arundhati Nag, Gowri Dattu, T.N. Seetharam, B. Suresha, Gundanna, and many young artistes shared their memory of the space.  

Arvind Nadig, an amateur theatre artist who has been practising theatre for more than 15 years, said that the building may be razed but not the memories. “Many like me learnt the magic of theatre from here. For amateur theatre groups H. N. was the place to rehearse, train and prepare themselves. It was not just a location, but as a place, it had its own vibe that talks about the legacy it has had. It was also a space of discipline, which included reaching the venue on time, cleaning the space before the rehearsals, and just getting lost in the entire process of training,” he said. Arvind added that most people called the space their second home, as they would spend a lot of their time through the day, practicing and training for their shows.

Cinema actor and theatre maker Balaji Manohar said that both amateur and professional theatre makers benefitted from the space. “Professionals sought new players to be a part of their play, and new players were looking for inspiration from professionals. H.N. was that space that had this synergy where three-four plays would be rehearsed at the venue at the same time. No rehearsals happened behind closed doors, we all highly benefitted from this as we would watch other teams, actors and directors work, as we waited outside for our slot. That was the beauty of the space. We were exposed and functioned without any inhibition,” he said. Balaji added that the space was very accommodative and nominal, because of which it worked out economical for most teams.