Isolated as we are from the realities of rural India, we barely get to hear outstanding stories of women who significantly contributed to society. In a first for the city, Ranga Shankara has organised a biennial festival Equal that presents inspirational stories of people who have empowered thousands of women. Curated by Arundhati Nag, Vanamala Vishwanatha, Jenny Pinto, Deepa Ganesh, and Ammu Joseph, Equal breaks gender stereotypes and seeks to create a shared humanity.
“We found the need to address issues,” says Arundhati Nag, founder of Ranga Shankara. “Theatre needs to touch base with real issues. We have lost touch somewhere. There will be three plays, but we also have conversations out of the theatre box. It is not a male bashing party. This is about speaking the same language.”
Sahitya Akademi-award winner Deepa Ganesh, who works with The Hindu says: “We all come with the belief that culture is shaped by the forces of society. If you just celebrate the performing arts and not think about real issues, then the festival will be unidimensional. We felt it is important to ground it in the real and after all, the arts is a reflection of this world.”
She adds that Equal is about acknowledging different voices: “The concept of Equal has been designed in it not being about radical feminism. There’ll be space for shared humanity. Equal means to be on an equal footing. Not that someone is better than anyone or some are more equal than others. By the very nature of creation we are unequal, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be fair to each other.”
The speakers come from different walks of life who have made great contributions in their respective fields. “Most festivals on women tend to be urban centric,” says Deepa. “The feminism a modern Indian woman would talk about are different from rural, marginalised women. Vasanth Kannabiran has decades of activism. Prasanna of Heggodu set up Charaka that empowered women with weaving and dying. He gave them confidence to sustain their own lives. Men are partners on this journey. We want more men to walk with us. There is one common togetherness.”
Equal is diverse in its scope. Some speakers include women from the garment industry whose phenomenal protest forced the Government to overturn their scheme on Employee Provident Fund. “There will be testimonials from Sanghamitra Iyengar on her work with sex workers through Samraksha too,” adds Arundhati.
The festival opens with a Yakshagana performance. But as Arundhati points out, this will be no ordinary performance. “ Chitrapata Ramayana will be performed by an all-women cast on The Ramayana through the eyes of Sita. Then there is Neelam Mansingh’s The License that explores a woman changing her identity as she does a man’s job and Veenapani Chawla’s Brhannala which is about Arjuna in the guise of a woman. Maya Krishna Rao’s performance, The Walk was created after the Nirbhaya incident.” Arundhati adds that instead of watching a play and leaving, they have planned Mehfils in the café.
There will be short performances by Vidya Hegde and Sumathi Murthy. There will be a photography exhibition of photos by Claire Arni and Cop Shiva.
The events begin on 7 April at 2 pm. All these events take place in the foyer of Ranga Shankara and entry is free.
There will be a play in the auditorium every day at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available at the box office and on bookmyshow.com . For more details visit rangashankara.org . The License and Brhannala perform in Jagriti Theatre too, as a part of the Festival. Equal is made possible by Rohini Nilekani.
