Apart from readers, writers too, across time, have been drawn towards the epic as a genre. Perhaps it is because the epic, ridden with issues of caste, gender and kingship, has always been political in character. Alter the perspective of narration or an equation of gender or caste within the text, and the same story acquires a new politics. Such alteration allows for creative retellings that offer a fresh incentive each time to revisit these canonical texts. For example, in his book, Randamoozham, M.T.Vasudevan Nair, takes up the Mahabharata and alters the point of view of the story. Placing Bhima at the centre of it all, he revisits the familiar story of the Pandavas and Kauravas and renders it anew. Similarly, K.Y. Narayanaswamy too, takes up the popular legends associated with Bharatha and Bahubali and modifies it in his play Chakraratna .
Recently, these two texts saw the light of the stage when they were enacted by two troupes from the State for ‘Rangavaividya,’ a State level theatre festival, organised by Bhagavataru in memory of the late writer, U.R. Ananthamurthy.
Enacted by the latest batch of Rangayana, Mysore, and adapted for the Kannada stage by Shyamkutty Pattankar and Dr. Parvathi Aithal, Nair’s text was staged on the first day of the festival as ‘Bhimayana.’ Directed by Dr. Sripad Bhat, the play, as far as the adaptation of the text was concerned, did a good job of depicting it on stage. However, when it came to the performances of the actors, one felt that the actors needed many more rehearsals and training.
The beauty of Nair’s original text is that it humanizes Bhima instead of making him one among the Gods or a god’s child. The play successfully managed to highlight this aspect and the actor who played the role of Bhima faired a tad better than the rest. Episodes such as Bhima staying behind on their heavenly pilgrimage to take care of the dying Draupadi and his relationship with Hidimbi from the forest were spotlighted. One of the acts that stood out was the depiction of a jatra troupe coming into the lac palace to entertain Kunthi and the five Pandavas. The troupe comes into the palace and offers to enact the story of Ekalavya. In an interesting retelling of the epic, this village troupe demonises Arjuna and Drona and champions the talent of Ekalavya. The Pandavas witnessing this performance are made angry. It is only Bhima that sympathises with the troupe and their ideology. The troupe tried their best to show Bhima as a kaadu manushya, rather than a naadu or a daiva manushya .
The music for the play was live. While the singers supported the characters on stage, their voice needed more strength and training. Bhimayana managed to create an appeal, if at all, thanks to its choice of Nair’s text. If it had to bank on the performers, then one is not sure if the production would have worked. Chakraratna was staged by Roopantara. Directed by K.S.D.L.Chandru, this play, again, successfully transferred the essence of the text on stage. The performances of the actors was average but the acting techniques seemed to be inspired from television productions of the Puranas. Like Bhimayana, Chakraratna too used martial arts techniques well.
Chakraratn a is a play about the perils of war and it is through the character of Bahubali -- who is also depicted as a cobbler in the play who stitches the wounds of people by night -- that it manages to convey the message of peace. The script, here again, is interesting and Roopantara too, banked on the merit of the text. As a production though, it was average.
One aspect of the production that worked against it was the idea of using recorded music. More than enhancing or supporting the plot, the music interfered with it, often stopping the flow of action of the play. Arishtanemi and his disciples, in search of a boulder that will help sculpt an image of Bahubali for their king Chamundaraya, come across a boulder that is bleeding. The director, to enhance this moment, played recorded music, which paused the action and interfered with the shock of the moment. The actors too mouthed the words of the song and waited for the song to get over to resume their dialogues. One wonders if the same sequence would have worked better if the actors themselves sang the song.
