Festivals 2019
Samashti organised 4 plays during 2019 in its program Hareya-20
Thursday 25th April 2019
KRISHNEGOUDANA AANE
About the play – KRISHNEGOUDANA AANE
This elephant created by Tejaswi, is no ordinary elephant. It isn’t a rogue tusker trumpeting in the forest. Instead, it’s a sacrilegious elephant given to Saamil Krishne Gowda by a monastery as they weren’t able to take care of it. Akin to a pet dog of the village, this elephant roams around the streets, waits in front of shops for bananas, is terrified of the crackers burst by the naughty urchins of the town and in essence becomes the prime suspect in tons of troubles, travails & calamities. This story, with an elephant as the central character, written by Kannada’s famous writer, K.P. Tejaswi, is one of the best stories in Kannada. The experienced artists of Karnataka’s proud theatre troupe, “Rangayana”, have brought this story on stage. Unfolding human behaviour within the boundary of humour is the speciality of this story cum play.
Photo Gallery : Krishne Gowdana Aane
Friday 12th July 2019
FOO…HACHKONDRA HANTHEKA, BITRA DOORA
About the play
The play makes one take notice of the manner in which unfortunate facts of human life such as poverty, orphan consciousness, helplessness & class conflicts are making human life horrible, complex & desperate. Apart from this, the play unfolds the adolescent excitements, hardships that cripple activism, moments of rage, violence & mad aggression born out of shame and the unexpected phases of life that bloom amidst all this. It centralizes man’s pursuit of life. The use of rustic dialects makes the play closer to the audience. It picturizes instances of the life journey of rural women through impassable paths.
Even before man experiences new developments that take place in society, another new change crops up & dents his consciousness. The huge pressure that this creates on his mind & the effects this has on human life have been tried to be portrayed in the play.
Photo Gallery : FOO…Hachkondra Hantheka, Bitra Doora
Friday, 13th September 2019
SANDEHA SAMRAJYA
About Drama
The most complex among human relationships is the one between man and woman or the husband-wife relationship. When compared to other relationships, this relationship has the potential to either get destroyed very quickly or stay effervescent for eternity; but this depends on one primary factor called ‘trust’.
At a time when human relations too are akin to saleable goods, this play seems very apt and contemporary. Our poets, saints and visionaries have sung praises of the husband-wife relationship elevating it to a divine level. In this background, man’s concept of “family” is confined within the boundaries of “morality”. But in the present day, have progressive thoughts like equality, independence, & feminism lost their true essence and remain a just words in effect breaking the moral boundaries of the idealistic principle called “family”?
Although a comedy, the play deals with serious issues that are worth debating. It puts across the point that family and social life remain steady if relations and trust are given prominent and strong roles in the play called life.
Photo Gallery : SANDEHA SAMRAJYA
Thursday, 12th December 2019
GHASHIRAM KOTWAL
About Drama
This play by Vijay Tendulkar, got staged for the first time in Poona and with controversial meanings it was successful in in clarifying sensibilities in the Indian theater scene. With a historic event that occurred near Poona as it’s subject, this piece of work brings to light the violation of human rights, disappointments and the intricacies of politics. By doing so, it stirs the emotions of the audience and gives them fodder for thought. It is a special play that contemporizes a historic event and gives new interpretations to current events.
Ghashiram, a Brahmin from Khannauj, comes to the city of Poona where he gets insulted by a set of Brahmins. The story revolves around how he avenges the insult meted out to him. The play unfurls though the means & strategies that he employs to exact his revenge. He sets up the stage for his retribution by using his daughter, Lalita Gowri, to entice Nana Fadnavis, the Peshwa head of the state at that time. Nana shows himself to be in Ghashiram’s control, exploits Ghashiram’s daughter and towards the end makes her meet a tragic end in effect leaving Ghashiram disillusioned. Throughout the play, elements like how powerful politics, lordship & the invisible pressures within the regime twist politics to their advantage get unfurled in subtle dimensions.
How lordship and the Brahmanism within it mutually complement each other to violate the foundations of caste, in effect sacrificing the lives of the helpless. This element surfaces throughout every twist and turn of the play helping one to radically perceive life around us even in the contemporary context..
Photo Gallery : GHASHIRAM KOTWAL
