Play : Rangashankara : Hakki Harutide Nodidira

Hakki Harutide Nodidira is an andaptation to kannada by Prema Karanth. It was originally written by Vijay Tendulkar. The original play goes by the name Ashi Paakhare Yeti

Arun has just missed his bus to bangalore and is angry about it. When he is cursing the driver and his fate he notices a beautiful lady standing. He tries to talk to her, but she goes off. Arun is mesmerised by her beauty. He goes in search of her and reaches Mr. D.W. Murthi's house. The girl (Sarsu) is the daughter of Mr Murthi.

He tries his tricks and is successful in convincing Mr Murthi and his wife that he is the son of Jois from their old locality. They are happy to see him

In the meantime he gets to know that a biy is coming to see Sarsu (the girl). He goes inside the house to meet Sarsu. Sarsu (aka Saraswathi) calls his bluff and tests Arun and she proves that his is not the son of Mr. Jois. Arun accepts that he is not Mr. Jois son. She wants to know the reason for his arrival in their house. He tells her that he was attracted by her charm, to which she laughs aloud.
She does not believe him. He tries his magic and tries to tell her that she is indeed the most beautiful women he has every met.
Arun gets to know that a boy is coming to see her. But she does not want to see the boy. She does not like to go through the process. She hates it. Arun realises that it is best for her and tries to convince her. She agrees to see the boy.
Sarsu is unusually calm and smiling when the boy comes over to see her. The boy's side is ready to take her as the bride. But Sarsu is not ready. She flatly disapproves the relation. Her father get furious and she has to bear the brunt.
Arun is surprised as to why she does not want to marry the boy. To which she replies that she like him. Arun, on his part likes sarsu but he cannot think of marrying her.Sarsu says that she was happy when the boy came to see her because all the while she was imagining Arun in the boy's position and that he was the one in her mind.
What happens next is the rest of the play.


All this is being narrated by Arun to his friends in a Bar.

My Impression
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I loved the play. I was totally engrossed in the play. The play had its moments of laughter, sadness. My heart went to Sarsu for her gullibility and her frankness. Great adaptation.
Direction of the play was amazing !!! The play is played in 2 sections. In one section of the stage the play is going on and in the other section, Arun is narrating the story to his friends. The play seemlessly moves between both the parts and holds on very well.
In some scenes the characters go in and out of both subscenes. This has been directly very well.

Rating
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All in all a great play. I would give it 7 out of 10.
The whole crew acted really well. I was impressed by sarsu in particular because of the character and excellent portrayal by the actor.
Nice way to spend Sunday afternoon.

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.