The octaves as a state of mind
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Mandra took the audience through 160 minutes of a good combination of storytelling, music and theatre
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PURSUING THE NOTE As an experiment Mandra was refreshing
Most in the audience watching the play Mandra at Ravindra Kalakshetra recently did not know that some among them were actors.
In the opening scene, the lead actor, an established Hindustani singer in the play, fails to get his act together after receiving a purse of Rs. 3 lakh for one singing session.
A few among the audience rise to question the singer Mohanlal. In raised voices the actors among the audience condemn the singer using abusive language for his failure to perform.
The singer throws the cheque back at the organiser and leaves the stage in a huff.
Kannada novel Mandra written by writer S.L. Byrappa has been adapted for stage by Korgi Shankaranarayana Upadhyaya and directed by B.V. Rajaram — who also plays the middle-aged lead character — the older Mohanlal.
With a powerful beginning, the story moves on to explore the contradictions of an artiste who rises to the level of receiving the venerable Tansen award but his worldly pursuits begin to fail him and his popularity begins to nosedive. Mohanlal ends up making up his mind to establish control over the lower octave (mandra).
As an experiment it was refreshing in a few ways: the music composed by vidwan Venugopal and rendered by singers Anant Bhagawat and Varijashri was superb and gave the required realism and seriousness to the play, which has music as its lifeline.
The older Mohanlal — who narrates his story — is always on the stage all through the 160-minute play and binds the scenes together. People with a penchant for Hindustani classical vocal lapped up the great combination of good theatre and good music.
Loose ends apart, the play seemed to have done justice to the 600-page novel. A debate on whether it is more effective than the original written word will always be subjective.
The play may not escape the wrath of those who despised the novel for its extra thrust on the fallibility of man to baser instincts.
GOVIND D. BELGAUMKAR
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