Bengaluru's Radical Mime group goes global

PunchTantraa, a Bengaluru-based group of diversely talented people who perform unconventional art form ‘Radical Mime’, is going global. It is set to perform at the prestigious AKKA (Association of Kannada Kootas of America) Sammelana in Atlantic City, US, on September 2, 3 and 4 this year. 

Formed in 2012, the team use mimes, sketches, movie and spoofs, infused with social awareness messages such as Swachh Bharat, save the tiger, an inclusive campaign for LGBT community and many more.

Saveen S Hegde, a narrator at PunchTantraa, said, “We have given more than 100 live shows in Chennai, Coimbatore, Mumbai besides Bengaluru. But this is the first time we have been invited by AKKA, a non-profit organisation that works towards promoting Kannada language and culture in North America to perform for them.”

The 10-member team has been rehearsing four to five hours a day for the last two months.
Arjun Nadig, one of the actors from the team, said that since they would be performing for the Indian-American audience, the performance would have a local flavour with themes such as Bengaluru traffic, politicians, age-old advertisements, etc. The team has launched a crowdfunding campaign on http://bit.ly/29SXYAI to fund the trip.

PunchTantraa will meet Puneeth Rajkumar, V Ravichandran, Shivarajkumar among other actors next week to get their input for improving the script and to shoot promotional videos with actors.

The AKKA conference is held every two years and showcases the performances of international (including star performers from Karnataka), national and local Kannada talent.
DH News Service