JOIN USPowerful dialogues tell a tale
Chandrashekar Kambar’s work Shivaratri, directed by Krishnamurthy Kavattar, was staged recently at Seva Sadan, as part of the Bengaluru Habba.
Presented by ‘Prayoga Ranga’, a theatre group which has been active for the last 25 years, the play dealt with the story of the 12th century reformer Basavanna.
The plot revolved around the incidents happening on a Shivaratri night in Kalyana, where Basavanna lives. Bijjala, a feudal king of Kalyana, gets irritated by the preachings and socio-religious reforms of Basavanna who is the finance minister in his court. As a result of this clash of ideas, Basavanna resigns his job and forms his own Mahamane, a spiritual parliament ,which attracts many Shiva Sharanas, irrespective of their caste or creed.
The rest of the play happens in the house of Savantri, a prostitute. Mugdha Sangayya, an ardent follower of Basavanna, comes to her house to do Linga Puja. He says he will gain more punya if he does it in a prostitute’s house. He asks for Kamakshi, a young girl, to help him in this and she readily agrees without taking any money.
Meanwhile, King Bijjala also reaches there and wants the company of Kamakshi. Savantri informs him that she is already serving another person. The furious king doesn’t want to leave the place and says that all this was the plan of Basavanna. Savantri, a follower of Basavanna, advises him to change his attitude towards Basavanna.
To her surprise, Basavanna comes to Savantri’s house in search of Mugdha Sangayya. Both Bijjala and Basavanna meet in an unexpected way. Basavanna requests Bijjala to provide security to a newly-wedded couple who belongs to a different caste. Though Bijjala agrees, he fails to save them even as miscreants burn down the couple’s house and those of others from the lower caste. Hearing this, Basavanna leaves Kalyana and thousands of Shiva Sharanas follow him. Bijjala dies in the end, repenting his bad deeds.
The artistes did justice to their characters. Jagadish Jala as Bijjala, Kalavathi as Savantri, Mahesh P as Mugdha Sangayya and Chetan as Nagaradevathe need a special mention for their acting skills. The conversations between Bijjala and Savantri and Bijjala and Basavanna were quite effective.
“The real strength of the play lies in its powerful dialogues. Some of the dialogues are as they are in the original play. Moreover, Basavanna’s vachanas are used in an effective manner,” said Jagadish Jala, one of the artistes. But, the play received a dull response as most of the seats remained vacant.