The city, known for a vibrant amateur theatre culture, has conceived a musical docu-drama on Hindustani singer Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
Reckoned to be the first of its kind, the production is based on the Marathi book “Ganaryache Por” written by Raghavendra Bhimsen Joshi, the singer’s son through his first wife Sunanda. The Marathi work was translated into Kannada as “Bhimannana Maga” by Shubhada Aminbhavi and has been adapted to theatre by the Mysuru-based Indian Theatre, an amateur theatre group.
N. Harish, who heads the group and conceived the play, told The Hindu that he read about the Kannada translation of Mr. Rahavendra’s work through newspapers. Mr. Harish approached Mr. Raghavendra to explain the concept of the musical docu-drama based on his book and he readily gave his permission. “What began as an idea crystallised into a full-fledged concept and I discussed it with others, including Prof. H.S. Umesh, who went on to direct the play and also wrote the script,” said Mr. Harish. The entire production — from the conceptual stage to final production — took 2 years.
Book is unique
Prof. Umesh pointed out that the book — on which the play is based — is also unique as the main protagonist is Bhimsen Joshi and not the author himself. “As in life so in book the son, who lived in oblivion in the shadow of his legendary father, assumes secondary character and the play attempts to subtly explore this relationship. But not all aspects found in the book could be adapted to the play in order to maintain the continuity and flow given the limitations of the time-frame,” said Prof. Umesh.
The rehearsal followed a pattern in which the content of the book were read, the scene was conceived, and blended with the main course of the drama and the script was written.
In all, 12 artistes, all amateurs, rehearsed the play which will go on the stage for the first time at Kalamandira on December 12 followed by a repeat show on December 27. The nearly two-hour-long play is interspersed with Hindustani songs and bhajans and Mr. Raghavendra himself renders a small alaap in the introduction while music direction is by flautist Sameer Rao and Nitin Rajaram Shastry, has rendered the alaap and bhajans .
