The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Messages from the margins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 22, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Messages from the margins

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Unsuni, the musical theatre piece, was premiered in the city at the Chitrakala Parishat on Thursday. Produced by Mallika Sarabhai’s Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, Unsuni, or Unheard Voices, is an attempt to bring to the forefront otherwise marginalised issues of economic and social deprivation.

According to Ms. Sarabhai: “It is an attempt to sensitise the kind of people who roll up their shiny car windows at the sight of a beggar and tell them stories from a world far removed from their own.”

Unsuni is a theatrical interpretation of Harsh Mander’s eponymous book. The narrative of the production is interspersed with Bollywood iconography. The objective of placing the play in this setting, according to Ms. Sarabhai, is to subvert the lurid representation of real life in reel life.

She said: “In Bollywood, a manual scavenger is not a manual scavenger alone, but a sexy manual scavenger.” Her production, which is in the city July 9, is targeted at the youth and most of the listed venues are schools and colleges.

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