Two vastly different worlds; one common character. Between the two worlds lies one night that could change everything. Amey Mehta’s One Night Only , a dance-drama, explores the fictional world of The Mahabharata and the real world of the Koovagam festival through Aravan, the abandoned son of Arjuna. Replete with different dance forms ranging from Karagaattam to Kalaripayattu and a mix of contemporary and Tamil folk music, the play draws focus on the transgender community and their relationship with Aravan, considered god-like.
Here’s an excerpt from a telephonic interview with director Amey Mehta:
What inspired you to look at the character of Aravan in The Mahabharata? Is there a specific incident that led you to look at this subaltern character?
When I had decided to venture into direction, I had wanted to look at mythology specifically. While I was doing my research, I chanced upon the story of Aravan and immediately found the character and the story to be my calling. Initially, I didn’t know about the annual festival in Koovagam. In fact, when I found Aravan’s story, I felt there was something incomplete about it. So, I wanted to look at an alternate narrative as well. That’s how I came to know about this festival and thought both these narratives can be intertwined.
Dealing with The Mahabharata can be tricky, especially because of the presence of multiple perspectives available in written text and oral history. When there is a whole gamut of narratives available, how do you stick to one particular perspective?
For me, obviously the story of Aravan is important but at the same time, the story of Koovagam and how the transgender community assembles there annually for the festival is equally fascinating. What has Aravan become now: that was my biggest question. I spoke to a lot of transgender persons during the course of the research and I realised that Aravan, usually venerated as a god or their husband, meant power for many. For someone, their family was Aravan, for some others, they were their own Aravans.This was something that I found very fascinating. Also, when you go for the festival you will find a lot of transgenders lamenting, it’s part of the custom. But it’s also a way in which they let out.
When you concentrate on a narrative like this (a community festival), was it a challenge to adapt it into a stageable script?
It was. I had wanted to cast transgender actors. But a lot of them, in Mumbai, hadn’t been to the festival and did not feel strongly for it. Others did not have the financial freedom to leave whatever they were doing and come for the rehearsals. So, none of my cast members are transgender persons. But in an effort to give them a feel of the festival, I had organised this mock-Koovagam festival in Mumbai which followed all the traditional rituals. My cast was a part of it. I also got a lot of people from the transgender community to speak to the cast about their journey through a sex-change process and so on. I also had them trained professionally.
You had mentioned that One Night Only is a movement-based piece or a dance drama. How challenging was it to play with that genre, considering that the Indian audience is relatively new to it?
We have 12 actors in the cast and all of them are from very different backgrounds. So, I organised introductory workshops for each of the dance forms to familiarise the actors with it. They had to train to reach the same level. When we opened the show in Prithvi Theatre, Bengaluru, we played to five housefull shows which culminated in standing ovations. The response from a lot of eminent personalities who came to watch the shows was extremely overwhelming. Initially, I hadn’t thought much about the response because this play is born out of my passion towards the story and the transgender community. So yes, we are hopeful.
Were you worried about the response since the play deals with a community that, unfortunately, doesn’t see much support from society?
What I was worried about in the beginning was the portrayal of Krishna, Arjuna and Abhimanyu in a very contemporary light and definitely not god-like manner. I thought that the older generation would object to it — it takes only one person to get up and say something negative. That didn’t happen, surprisingly. On the other hand, they were interested about this take. That is extremely encouraging. Through this play, I wanted the audience to go home thinking about the transgender community which in fact, happened in the opening show. What was uplifting was that one of my actors was ‘scared’ of transgenders earlier, but now, after playing the role, she is completely rid off it. These are the small things that made me very happy.
