A multi-lingual treat
P.S. BHATT
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Touching themes broke the barriers of language at NSD fest.
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Photo: CH Vijaybhaskar
WINSOME FORMAT A scene from Girish Karnad's `Agni Mattu Male'.
Some things can never be intercepted by language, as were the plays at the multi-lingual festival of National Theatre at Vijayawada. The plays, which had their own visual mounds of speech to control their skittish run, were appreciated by a large audience, more for the implementation of actual play than its verbal duel.
Going by the theatre culture of the locals, the Municipal Corporation was keen to convince the State Department of Culture and the regional resource centre of the National School of Drama at Bangalore, to invite seven theatre groups from various languages other than Telugu to present their works as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the corporation.
Two troupes from the State presented their Nandi award-winning works.
A large and cheering crowd justified the intent of the civic authority to show some flourishes of the regional efforts of theatre activity from Assam to Kerala. One could infer that a play was meant to catch the reflexes of one generation to cultivate the contemporary contours. Of the Telugu verse plays, Paramatma Vyavasthitaha writted by Nandagiri was presented by VTPS Cultural unit of Ibrahimpatnam.
Chronicling the times of popular Telugu poet Srinatha, Akella followed a winsome format to gyrate the famous incidents of the poet's life around his choicest verses, elegantly rendered by Gummadi in the lead role. The packed audience on the last day of the festival liked the deft handling of the scenes directed by Duggirala Someswara Rao.
Engrossing fare
A surprise presentation in Hindi was Hum Bihar mein chunao lad rahen hain, a play on Bihar's rickety election. It was a treat to watch the solo-run of actor Vijay Kumar for more than an hour. It was engrossing. No wonder, this was his 300th performance.
There was some incandescence in Girish Karnad's Kannada play Agni Mattu Male, directed by Mandya Ramesh of Mysore. A clue from the Mahabharatha was converged to portray how the learned and the wise become sub-serviant to the malleable instincts.
A deluge of knowledge played up in a discordant society on the remotest characters from the epic crystallized for an interesting visual. The directed often over-valued the vocalist's pattern of singing the `tarana' style to submerge the dialogue.
N. Muthu Swamy's Tamil play, Padu Kalam was also connected to the epic. Where the dual between Duryodhana and Bheema in the warfront was turned to symbolise honour of Draupadi. The tussle was forbidden on the ground. On the other side of the allegory was a fight between two warring brothers for a stretch of land.
The monolith of Duryodhana's dead body, brought on the stage and destructed to a crescendo was an act worth watching. This play was directed by Anumole Vellani.
Gatha was written by Rabijit Gogoi in praise of tender roots. Amidst the changes in the governance and militancy, the struggle of the rural Assamese to possess their land was admirable.
Inspired by Hess' version of Sidhartha, C.S. Deepak imaginatively worked on the script in Malayalam. Director, M.G. Jyotish, made out a massive illusion of the bed of the river with Venetian binds standing upright to conceal the sunset. Sitting on a hilting plank on the stage, there was mime rowing so deceptive to be real.
The plays displayed a treasure of ideas. The dime of teaching had no exchange value. Corporator S. Narsaraju and Commission N. Gulzar deserved to take a bow.
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