Thyagaraya Ganasabha was the venue for the presentation of the eternal play Srikrishna Rayabaram under the aegis of Rasanjali and Thyagaraya Ganasabha, at the latter's auditorium. Tirupati Venkata Kavulu penned this Mahabharata play a century ago which is being staged innumerable times even today by a number of theatre units.
The play opened with the Dwaraka scene, when Srikrishna is having a nap at his palace when Duryodhana and Arjuna arrive to seek his help in the impending war. After knowing the reason why they sought his audience, Krishna puts himself on one side and his army on the other and asks Arjuna to choose first. Arjuna responds by seeking Krishna's presence in the war as his charioteer. Duryodhana happily gets Krishna's army on his side.
The scene is loaded with delectable verses. T. Krishna as Srikrishna, G.V. Srinivasa Reddy as Arjuna, and Dasari Sivaji Rao as Duryodhana lent good performances. The final court scene was enacted with T. Nagireddy playing Krishna'srole this time and Poorna as Duryodhana. The other roles in the court scene were Giridhar as Dritharashtra, Manohar Rao as Karna, Malladi Bhaskar as Bhishma, Veera Sekhar as Aswatthama, and Lingamayya as Vikarna. All the artistes, well-versed with their roles, presented them well.
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C. Narayana Reddy felicitated T. Krishna and T. Nagireddy for their excellence in the portrayal of the prime role of Srikrishna.