PUNE: Taking serious note of theatre artistes’ complaining about getting disturbed by the spectators’ phones ringing during the play, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is soon going to install mobile jammers at 14 auditoriums in the city.
On Sunday, an artiste performing in the play ‘Himalaychi Savli’ at Balgandharva Rangmandir stopped the show when a mobile phone from amongst the audience kept ringing continuously. PMC’s step is aimed at preventing such a situation in the future.
The PMC’s Cultural Department will be issuing a letter soon to the Electrical Department of PMC for the installation of mobile jammers in the PMC-owned auditoriums that host Marathi, Hindi and English plays.
Sunil Mate, Administrative Head of PMC Cultural Department, said, “Many artistes get disturbed while performing a play when the mobile phones of viewers keep ringing.”
There are four major auditoriums in the city, Balgandharva Rangmandir on Jangli Maharaj Road, Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha in Kothrud, Ganesh Kala Krida Manch in Swargate and Annabhau Sathe Auditorium in Bibvewadi.
Despite putting up boards requesting spectators to keep their mobiles on ‘silent’ or ‘vibration’ mode while the plays are being staged, people are not paying attention to this, said Mate.
In June this year, veteran actor Vikram Gokhale along with Marathi theatre stars Sumeet Raghavan, Siddharth Jadhav and Subodh Bhave have been among those who have expressed their distress over the issue on social media platforms.
Raghavan, who had also stopped his play midway in Nashik because of the mobile menace, told Sakal Times that installing mobile jammers will help control such acts during the programme.
Vibhawari Deshpande, Marathi movie actress and theatre director, said, “Installing mobile jammers inside the theatres will cause problems to the audience, there is a possibility that during the programme the audience might miss an important call.
Rather than strict rules, people should act responsibly and switch their phone to silent (mode).”
