Politics stinks and all politicians are corrupt — this much familiar refrain is the subject of Undo Fine Arts’s ‘DemoCrazy — A Satire On The Common Man.’ But with a difference. “Don’t blame the politicians. They were not born corrupt,” says Sri Arunkumar, playwright. “People are equally responsible for the situation,” he expands.
“Politicians enter the field to earn fame and wield clout rather than amass wealth,” argues Sri Arunkumar, who thinks circumstances cause the derailment. The chief minister in the play asks of the antagonist, “Who do you think will suffer, if corruption is rooted out?” “The politician, of course, and corrupt officers,” he replies. “No,” counters the C.M. “The real sufferer would be the common man, who is so used to having his way by giving bribes,” he explains. So in this play, which is laced with humour and also has God as a character, people are not fools, as Cho sought to project.
Cho’s impact
That brings up the strong Cho flavour of the theme “Well, that is inevitable. He was the role model for all aspirants of serious theatre,” responds Sri Arunkumar. “No, people are not fools,” he picks up the thread. “They vote for the person/party, which will cause least disturbance to their routine and are happy if the freebies continue,” he says.
So what is the solution? “The situation should change. People should show more interest in politics. Everyone need not become a politician but awareness is mandatory. Only that will bring honest candidates to the forefront.”
A Government employee, Sri Arunkumar’s first play was ‘Undo,’ in which he turned the Ekalavya episode (Mahabharata) on its head. “A Vedic scholar and man of valour like Drona, certainly would not have asked for the right thumb of a promising archer to promote Arjuna. So why and how did this happen?” ‘Undo,’ staged by Dummies Creations, unravelled a tale in which a distraught Drona, after the killing of Aswathama, seeks the help of Ekalavya. So goes the story.
‘Undo,’ which examined a popular tale from a different angle became the spark for ‘DemoCrazy,’ according to Sri Aravindkumar, who has also written the script and dialogue. It has been produced by Raghunathan Ramanujam for Undo Fine Arts. The play will be inaugurated on May 25 at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Mylapore, 7 p.m. Contact 9514423648 and 8637412216.
