JOIN USHow a victim 'caste' the evil aside
Kagemanti (Mandya district): A three-year-long journey replete with trials and tribulations has borne fruit for this youngster who has come a long way from being a shepherd to successfully staging a 10-hour-long epic drama on a magnificent set nestled atop a hillock in the remote Kagemanti village in Mandya district.
The Charvaka troupe finally unveiled its creation ‘Arya Dravida’ under the open skies, on Wednesday evening, creating magic with its script, sound, light and music.
This, for 27-year-old Girish Machalli, is the beginning and the end of his tryst with the 16-acre land, which is drawing people from far and wide — all in the name of theatre. Once a wasteland with rocky structures where Machalli reared his sheep as a child, it has been transformed into a land of pure delight — an artist’s envy.
A tunnelled entrance chronicling the annals of civilisation takes you backwards to the Stone Age — starting from the present-day set-up symbolised by Parliament. From there on, you are sucked into a world tormented by social evils, casteism and corruption, depicted by around 150 first-time artistes on three massive stages titled ‘Hettavara Angala’, ‘Naganela’ and ‘Dravida Dhare’.
Between nightfall and pre-dawn, Machalli took his audience through a odyssey, by successfully capturing the pathos of man’s evolution over 5,000 years, which he says has been woven together based on the ‘Cause and Effect’ theory.
The fruits of the hard work and the toil in putting together the open theatre is, however, restricted to the five days that Charvaka will stage the play. “My rental agreement with the owner of this land ends in June. I don’t have the financial resources to rent this land again. It may seem illogical, but I will have to forsake this set after I complete the five shows. I want to dedicate the set to the people of Mandya. It should stay as a monument, and I hope the government will take interest in owning it up and not let it be torn down,” says Machalli.
Struggles for life
He admits that it isn’t easy to let go of a creation that especially emerged from the struggles of his personal life. Machalli has raised and spent Rs 1.12 crore in putting together the set, spread over six acres. Recounting the opposition he faced from the parents of his beloved Arundathi, Machalli says the discrimination he has encountered as a person from a “lower caste”, provoked him to get to the bottom of the emergence of casteism.
“You might call it madness. But now that the show is unveiled, I don’t mind talking about the real reason behind ‘Arya Dravida’. Arundathi has been the love of my life for the last nine years. She has stood by my side, despite stiff opposition, in fact aiding me through the research work for the play.
“She has helped me go through 3,000 to 4,000 reference material. When our love wasn’t accepted, I was struck by a madness to deal with this evil called casteism.
The play, I hope, will spread the social message. But I am now drained of finances. I know that I cannot sustain more shows on this set. But with her by my side, I guess I can now move on,” he says, adding that he would stage ‘Arya Dravida’ on other platforms.