Sarath Shetty was all of 18 years when he committed murder. “It was an act of self-defence. My life was in danger. This was the only way I could escape,” says Shetty, who hails from Uduppi.
Last September, he walked out from prison. His sentence was cut short to 14 years for his good conduct. When he walked out, it was not to an unfamiliar world, as most convicts who spend those many years in jails do. He went straight to the stage, to play the role of Banquo, Macbeth’s friend in ‘Maranayaka’, a Kannada adaptation of the Shakespearean play.
What gave new meaning to his life was a theatre workshop conducted in the prison by Mysore-based Sankalpa Kala Sangha, a theatre group started by Hulugappa Kattimani and Pramila Bengre. With the co-operation of the Karnataka Prisons Department, the group has to its credit some path-breaking achievements in rehabilitating hardened criminals through the medium of theatre.
20 prisoners
When the Bharat Rang Mahotsav at the Tagore theatre got off to a start here with a staging of ‘Maranayaka’, 20 former prisoners from various jails across Karnataka were on stage.
“It was in 1997 that I went to the Bellary Central Prison with the idea of a theatre workshop for the inmates. When I announced the plan, those who were interested in acting came forward. The workshop went on for 45 days. The experiment was appreciated by police officers, writers and artists. They asked me to continue with it and take it to the next level. I realised that this is the best way to reform them and bring them back to the society as responsible citizens. I go to a new prison every year and select 20 to 30 inmates for new plays,” says Hulugappa Kattimani.
He points to S.V. Rajesh from Chikmagalur, the ‘senior’ of the group who has been performing for the past 15 years.
He was lodged in the Bangalore Central Prison for 17 years. A murder convict, he was a particularly hard character to tackle.
Gandhi’s role
But Kattimani had the last laugh and even made him play the role of Gandhi in a play.
“I was released from prison just three months ago. I used to be escorted by the police to the performance venues,” says Rajesh.
Getting back to society
Many murder convicts find it hard to gel back into the mainstream society and have to face social ostracism when they get out after serving time in prison.
“I thought my life had ended after those initial years in the jail. But then I ended up with this group and now I have the confidence that I can lead a normal life,” says Sarath Shetty.
Kattimani and the Sankalapa group, through the medium of theatre, help them to ease their way back into the society.
