Merging past and present on stage

MYTH AND REALITY

The name is intriguing... why comrade... and why Kumbhakarna? The unusual combination kept every one guessing even as they reached Kamani to witness the 25th show of Mohit Takalkar’s Comrade Kumbhakarna as part of NSD’s ongoing Summer Theatre Festival. But it was the per­­fo­rmance that made it clear as to why the name was chosen to merge the past and present contexts!

Set up in South India, the story revolves around a small theatre group that performs scenes from Ramayana. While the mother is a theatre actor and enacts the mythological character of Sita in the natak company, the father is a part of the Black Shirt movement which is based in the present context.

Both are at logger heads but the mother dominates the household. The son, Kumbhakarna is stuck in the dilemma of these two worlds. He likes his father’s revolutio­n­ary world but doesn’t understand a thing whereas the mother wants him to become an actor which leads him to choose ‘Kumbhakarna’ from the characters in Ramayana.

Comrade... delves into the issues of human existence as the rural family strives for survival. Their struggle is combined with rhetoric of the protagonist who keeps reiterating about his twin sister “who committed suicide,” grandfather and father “who committed suicide.”

Kumbhakarna is played by two actors – one depicting a five-year old and the other his middle-aged counterpart. Both take turns to narrate the story in first person and at times merge in one scene.

The play contains within it many nuances and subtle sub-texts. There are scenes where a natak company starts perf­o­r­ming Ramayana with all its taam jhaam and that too only for young Kumbhakarna. At a deeper level, it aims to help him fall asleep as he is dema­n­ding food when there isn’t any.

The acting is impeccable with actors also singing folk songs while playing the Theatre Company. One also must make a mention of the sound effects which add brilliantly to the narrative of the play. In scenes where it is raining, the thunder of clouds and sound of water make it a live experience for audiences even without a 3D effect.

It all adds up to complete the play where the lead is neither a Comrade nor Kumbhakarna but an innocent human stuck in the hypocrisies of bureaucracy and undergoing a trial for no reason.

Comrade... endeavours to present the asura kumbhakarna in a positive light for he was against war but fought due to the whims of Ravana.

This justification is attached to the comrades of Black Shirts Movement started by ‘Periyar’ E V Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu. The audience connects and sympathises with the protagonist who is stuck in this mess for no fault of his.

After the play, Ajeet Singh Palawat (who plays the young Kumbhakarna) informed, “The interrogation scene around which the whole story revolves is based on a true incident of trial of Vermon Gonzalves, who is still under house arrest in Maharashtra.”

He explained that the play is full of emotions and can be understood if only “you have a slight knowledge of things happening around you and are aware of issues that have references to Amma Durai, Periyar and Jinnah.”

Naveen Singh Thakur (who plays the elder Kumbhakarna) seconds the opinion, “When we discussed the script initially, it took time to understand that it is not just the story of a character from Ramayana. It is the Kumbhakarna of the past and the present who together form the play.”