Play: Rangashankara Theater : Kuri

It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon and I was in the mood for something creative. So I contemplated, why not a play. So I left for Rangashankara. I reached there and had a look at the play for the day. It was titled "Kuri" (Goat). Now I was not sure whether it was about a Kuri or they were planning to make me one...

With a lingering doubt i bought the ticket and went into the hall. I was not prepared for the crowd that was in the hall. I thought there would be a handful of people. But to my surprise I found almost all seats used up. With some difficulty I squeezed into the central row of seats.
After about 15 minutes, the play began.

The play was more about how the ignorant and gullible people are taken for a ride. The play is originally written in Hindi. It goes by the title "Gandhiji ki Bakri". written by (late) Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena. The play has been adapted in Kannada by C.P. Ravi Kumar. Directed by M.S. Sathyu.

The play starts of with three people happily jumping around and claiming to the local dafedar that they have come up with a brilliant Idea of making money. They Dafedar being human gets curious and wants to know the plan. They 3 pull him into the plan and ask him to find one goat. The dafedar goes around the village and gets one goat for them. The three proclaim that the Goat in front of them is Gandhiji's goat. That the fore-father of the Goat was actually rared by Gandhiji and that the goat is very knowledgeable. They anoint it as a devi (goddess).
In the meantime the owner of the goat a simple old women comes in search of her goat. On finding her goat she is elated. But her happiness does not last long as the gang of 3 drive her out saying that this is Gandhiji's goat that they she does not deserve to have this goat. They ask her to get all the villagers of her village. Insulted and bereaved of her goat, the lady goea back to her village to call the men go get her goat.
On seeing the large crowd the gang of 3 + the dafedar try to silence the crowd and ask them to sit down. The crowd sits down but are not pacified. They keep rumbling. The gang of 3 explain to the people that this is Gandhiji's goat and that it should not be in the village. It should be kept in the dharmshala. If people object to it then all ill will fall on them and they will suffer. The villagers fall into the trap and let the 3 have the goat. The old women is shocked. She tries to protest, but the dafedar pull her and locks her up iun a prison.
What follows next is a story of exploitation by the 3 people and the dafedar who take advantage of the ignorant public to serve their needs and the three end up being rich and wealthy. When the reality strikes the villagers they take up their sticks to seek revenge.

My Impression
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I liked the play for its simplicity and being succinct and still delivering the punch.
I was pleasantly surprised to find Ramesh Pandit in the play as the priest (one of the 3 members of the Gang of 3). In the image below, Ramesh Pandit is the one standing.


The most hilarious part was the loud speaker who reinterprets what the Politician says and what actually he meant. The crowd burst into laughter every time the speaker reinterpreted what the politician meant.

All in all a very beautiful portrayal of reality.

I would give the play a 7 out of 10 and a thumbs up.

PS: Thanks Ravi for pointing out the mistake. I have corrected the blog.