C . Basavalingaiah is an important name in the world of Kannada theatre. In the recent years, he has made a name for himself by bringing literary classics on stage -- Kusumabale of Devanuru Mahadeva, Malegalalli Madumagalu of Kuvempu and landmark works of Marathi literature such as Akkarmashi of Sharankumar Limbale, and Uchalya of Laxman Gaikwad. While his Kusumabale hit the 100 mark, Malegalalli Madumagalu drew the attention of audiences for its huge canvas. This was supposed to be the longest play after Peter Brooks’ Mahabharatha and had four intervals of 20 minutes each. In this nine-hour long play, Basavalingaiah attempted to put Kuvempu’s 750-page magnum opus on stage with 70 artists. This experiment is still being considered as one of the most ambitious endeavors of Indian theatre.
Basavalingaiah, Director of the National School of Drama (NSD) Bengaluru, headed Rangayana - the only state-run theatre repertory in the country, after his guru and mentor B.V. Karanth vacated the post of director. He was part of this repertory for nearly a decade and played an important role in providing social security to theatre artists. Besides Kannada, Basavalingaiah has also directed plays in Hindi, Telugu, Assamese and Malayalam. His essay on Violence and Indian Theatre is widely discussed in theatre circles. His contributions are featured in Ramayana Stories in Modern South India: An Anthology -compiled and edited by Paula Richman.
He came into theatre through Samudaya -- the first radical theatre movement in Karnataka. He believed in social activism and was excited about new theatrical forms emerging at that point of time. Basavalingaiah, who is criticized in theatre circles for making his productions spectacles, is now engaged in portraying the 12th century Vachana movement. “In all likelihood, the production will be staged in March. Vachana Kalyana will be on the lines of Malegalalli Madumagalu. This nine-hour play will be presented on four podiums and more than 300 artists will be part of this mega-project,” says Basavalingaiah. His forte is adaptation and he uses folk traditions judiciously as theatrical devices to structure mega narratives. He describes his theatre as a “blend of ritualistic theatre and magical realism” and adds that “modernity is also a ritual in one sense”.
A panelist at The Hindu’s Literary Festival, Lit for Life, 2017, Basavalingaiah speaks about his major concerns in theatre.
Excerpts:
Most of your productions are adaptations of classics and landmark works of Kannada literature. Are you more comfortable with adaptations rather than plays themselves? Can you recall the circumstances in which you made Kusumabale?
When Kusumabale was serialized in Suddi Sangati , the Kannada weekly, there was excitement all around. Devanuru broke set patterns of writing and reading literary works and blended three kinds of Kannada in the novel; the written form, the poetic language of Male Mahadeshwara tradition and the dialect widely spoken in Chamarajanagar district. I was a student at NSD when Kusumabale was published and it gave my ego a jolt, that he could grasp Kannada literature so well. I could not read even one page. Being a singer, I used to sing lines of the novel during the reading ritual sessions. Finally, I understood that Kusumabale is a novel, besides a play and epic and decided to adapt it to theatre. This is how the 77-page novel transformed into a 165 minutes-long landmark production in Kannada theatre.
Yes, I am comfortable with adaptations. When I joined NSD, it unveiled a new secular India in front of me. In theatre, no one asks what caste you belong to, it is a secular space. Theatre is such a wonderful form, where anything--novel, poem or short story can be adapted. Hence, I prefer adaptation to written plays. Many people accuse me of not staging plays. My question to them is -- what according to them is a play?
Of late Rangayana repertory is in news for reasons other than theatre.
Rangayana is a unique theatre institution in India as it is the only state run theatre repertory in the country. It is difficult to find artists who have honed their theatre skills for nearly 25 years under people like Karanth, Prasanna, Jambe, Jayashree and others. What Rangayana is lacking is a director with a vision. It is wrong to argue that a native theatre person should head Rangayana. When Karanth could head NSD and Bharat Bhavan, why should we insist on a local person for Rangayana? Once everything falls in place, Rangayana will regain the stature it had during the days of Karanth. However, post-retirement insecurity is still haunting the artists. The untimely death of Manjunath Belekere, an artist of Rangayana, brought about a reality check for them again. All former directors of Rangayana are pressurizing the Minister for Kannada and Culture Umashree to expedite the issue.
Is the regional centre of NSD that you head in Bangalore, subservient to the parent body in Delhi or does it have an identity of its own?
After a protracted struggle for a separate NSD for Karnataka, NSD expanded its activities by setting up the Regional Resource Centre in Bengaluru. This has since evolved into a full-fledged centre by completing its second edition of the one year intensive course in acting. The syllabus envisaged for this centre is the product of an attempt in developing an Indian method of acting by extracting acting methods from the best of traditional and folk performing forms of the south India. I can confidently claim that the Bengaluru Centre has developed a distinct and unique style of teaching that is vastly different from its parent institution in New Delhi. The essence of the classical folk and the powerful ritual practices from the south Indian States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Lakshadweep are included as part of the training. This is a new attempt in understanding Indian theatre and laying a new path for the future of Indian Theatre. The Bengaluru experiment reinforced my faith in having separate NSDs for all States.
There are over 70 NSD graduates in Karnataka. According to you, what is their contribution to theatre?
You have to ask this question to them. Not to me. Theatre was a part of literature and literary movements during the seventies. Directors had occupied centre stage then. Media which groomed theatre at that point has now failed. Theatre is not at all a part of their scheme of things. It is also a fact that many NSD graduates become popular after their entry into the celluloid medium. For example, Rangayana Raghu, Nawazuddin Siddiqui got recognition after involving themselves in street theatre for 16 years. Irfan Khan is a student of Prasanna and acknowledges the training he got from his Guru. Many actors including Naseeruddin Shah are returning to theatre.
What are the challenges faced by Indian theatre today, especially when the BJP led NDA government is saffronising the country’s academic, cultural and democratic institutions?
As far as challenges are concerned, I must say there is an exodus from theatre to film for livelihood. Indian theatre is searching for its identity in a country with diversity, with multiple forms and languages. Though it is being construed as its biggest strength, it is being transformed as a big challenge to determine its identity. It has become necessary to consider regional identity as Indian identity. The concept of a National theatre has to be seen purely in regional terms. There is an attempt to saffronise all democratic cultural institutions. The appointment to Film and Television Institute of India-Pune and other cultural institutions is a testimony to that.
Recently Amol Palekar filed a petition in the Mumbai High Court challenging the censorship of theatre performances.
This is nothing but a brutal attempt to curtail artistic freedom. It will become difficult hereafter to stage historical plays in their original form. Though there is no difference between Congress and BJP on curtailing artistic freedom, Congress feared backlash from the intellectual community. The BJP doesn’t have that kind of fear, because of the massive support it got in the previous polls. But, I don’t foresee a situation of the kind in Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal, as these are built through various movements. Noted writers did not get arrested even after criticising Gandhi during the Emergency in Karnataka. But, I will not completely rule out the possibility of censorship in theatre in Karnataka in the days to come. My apprehension stems from the fact that consistent efforts are being made by fundamentalists to destroy the secular fabric with the help of the younger generation. But theatre is like Antarjala , an inner water reserve. It will not dry up so easily.
Under the given circumstances what will be the immediate challenge before you as a theatre activist?
I clearly understand the fact that now science (Vijnana) is being used to make people ignorant (Ajnani). Scientific innovations have become convenient tools to propagate superstition. Media is being controlled by corporates and crony capitalism has taken control over the economy and the country. With the help of television, people are being converted into consumers. Governments have become commission agents of corporate companies. Corporates market their products by putting the photograph of the Prime Minister. The middle class, which was once the vocal force to fight the situation of the kind has been kept in comfort zone by dangling the carrot of development and attributing the situation to an increase in corruption. Theatre which was being used as a protest tool is facing serious danger under the present dispensation. In theatre, my responsibility lies in proving that people are not consumers in a democracy.
