Kannada play Anabhijna Sakuntala , staged by Prasanga Theatre from Bangalore on the penultimate day of the four-day Abinaya National Theatre Festival, held at Ravindra Bharati was indeed a thought-provoking mammoth production. It featured more than 48 talented artistes in main roles. Playwright K.Y. Narayanaswamy and director Prakash P. Shetty steered the production more from a feminist point of view, with critical outlook on Sakuntala’s original story Kalidasa wrote as ‘Abhigjnana Sakunatalam’, still considered hall mark drama, in Indian context. The playwright deals with inner sentiments of women. Hence he weaves a similar story on Kalidasa in parallel to what he had written in his kavya ‘Abhignana Sakuntalam’ putting them in contrast.
It was a wonderful team work that all the artistes exhibited.
Pavan D. Pai as Kalidasa was the cynosure of all eyes and turned out a good performance. Geeta Surtkai and Sowmyasri played the role of Gandharvakanya the nymph in different parts. Nemichandra as Mallika and Tejawini as Sakuntala gave sterling performances.
There were many in a number of roles who displayed impressive teamwork. It was a well handled production.
