120th show of play with Duryodhana as focus

‘Suyodhana’, directed by SV Krishna Sharma, will be staged on Sunday at KH Kalasoudha

The 120th staging of Suyodhana, a play written and directed by S V Krishna Sharma, will be held at K H Kalasoudha, Hanumanthnagar, near Ramanjaneyagudda, on Sunday at 7 pm.

The 100-minute play features Narendra Kashyap as Suyodhana, Pradeep Anche as Krishna, V ranganatha Rao as Shakuni, B Ashok as Karna, Kuladeep Somayaji as Bheema, Madhusudan as Yudhisthira, Manoj as Bhishma and Madhukar as Drona.

Suyodhana was staged back in 1977 for the first time at Ravindra Kalakshethra. It has been staged almost in every district of the state so far. The last show was organised in December last year in Bengaluru.

As many as 12,000 spectators, including those from Maharashtra, witnessed the play in Bidar. Over 5,000 spectators watched it in Shivamogga.

S V Krishna Sharma donned the role of Duryodhana for 100 shows, while two other artistes donned the role for the last 19 shows.

The epic narrative lends itself to an infinite number of interpretations and questions. Sharma’s Suyodhana is the most thought-provoking one so far as far as the Kannada theatre is concerned. It is an attempt to construct the epic tale from Duryodhana’s perspective.

In the last four decades, the play has caught the attention of theatre-goers for asking many questions from Duryodhana’s perspective.

Duryodhana himself is the protagonist and poses a number of questions to Krishna and Pandavas after the famous 18-day battle.

Each question seems justified, and we see Krishna and Pandavas being left without any answers. The play introduces another facet of the Kaurava prince and seems to drive home a point that he is not a villain as has been projected in most variants of the epic.

“The play has been able to hold sway over the audience due to heart-touching dialogues and questions and the treatment of the plot. It generates a lot of curiosity and changes the way in which society has been viewing the Pandavas and Krishna,” says K Y Sandhya Sharma, the organiser.

Suyodhana’s turmoil lingers in the mind of the audience even after the play concludes.

Introductions of ghosts of those who were martyred in the Kurukshetra battle and Suyodhana’s questions to them is another unique feature of the play.

The playwright uses Duryodhana’s questions to narrate the entire epic from his angle. It effectively depicts how inevitability, helplessness, conspiracy, agenda, jealousy, rivalry and revenge change the course of a man’s life.

Music has been
composed by Padmacharan, while recitals by Vidwan S Shankar.

The following number may be contacted for details: 94480 94949.