'I want to 'de-frame' theatre thru Malegalalli Madumagalu: Basavalingaiah

“The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life,” said American playwright, Arthur Miller. Stage and artistes come alive only when they ‘ play’ to an audience, and the audience become a part of the play. Rangayana, India’s only State-run repertory, is conducting such a unique experiment by staging Kuvempu’s ‘Malegalalli Madumagalu’ for nine hours from April 23 to May 11 on alternative days from 9 pm to 5 am.

‘Malegalalli Madumagalu’ is a magnum opus of Rashtrakavi Kuvempu. The 750-page opus is much more than just that, it is a great story simple in its narration with down-to-earth characters with a beautiful portrayal of life in the heart of Karnataka — Malnad. In Malnad, typical villages are non-existent because every house is in the middle of nowhere, with their neighbour some miles away. But there is always the hierarchy of a mini society with a head for the village who is wealthy, the workers, the poor farmers, and a priest for a temple nearby. The play depicts a life unknown to the urbanites but very much in existence, though in a modern version, in the Malnad region.

The much-hyped play is to be staged for nine hours with intervals for every two hours. And in that interval, the spectators have to move to another stage, where a different scene will be enacted. ‘Malegalalli Madumagalu’ got wide media coverage because of its length rather than the story which was a classic and which should have been in the limelight.

When I went to speak to C. Basavalingaiah, former Director of Rangayana and one of the most versatile Directors in Kannada theatre, he willingly gave up his two-hour break in the midst of a rehearsal for ‘Malegalalli Madumagalu’ to contemplate on the birth of Rangayana, his tenure as a Director, theatre in India and Karnataka and his close-to-heart experiment with the play.

Shwetha: You were the Director of Rangayana for six years and during your tenure, many new dramas were staged.

Basavalingaiah: Yes. My entry into Rangayana is a long story. In the 1970s, I and a few other theatre enthusiasts went to join the National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi because we were very much influenced by B.V. Karanth who headed NSD for sometime. But Karanth left NSD after I joined there. Back then, theatre meant staging plays of Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht and other foreign playwrights. Indian theatre meant Hindi, Bengali and other North Indian plays. Even in Karnataka, Kannada plays were not creating much wave.

Theatre was for the intellectuals and men. Common people, especially women, feared joining theatre. Hence we persuaded Karanth to come to Karnataka and stage Kannada plays, reaching out to rural audience. That was the start of theatre revolution in the State. We started staging Kannada stories by our own writers. Watching such plays, rural populace lost their reservations and started joining theatre.

I became Rangayana Director after B.V. Karanth and experimented with Kusumabale, Gandhi vs Gandhi, Shoodra Tapasvi etc. (They are considered the masterpieces in Kannada theatre).

Shwetha: You started Chinnara Mela which has become very popular now.

Basavalingaiah: Yes. I was born and brought up in Bangalore city. Reading ‘Malegalalli Madumagalu’ some 25 years ago opened up a whole new social side to me which I was not familiar with. That is one of the reasons I started Chinnara Mela. I want to introduce urban children to rural games, customs and way of life. I want to involve children in plays like Malegalalli Madumagalu where they will be able to explore a wholly different way of life they can not see here in city. The kids can not even frequent their grandparents’ house (Ajji mane) in villages during holidays because now they too live in cities. Children have lost all touch with village life.

Shwetha: Why did you particularly choose this major work?

Basavalingaiah: I chose the story because I was fascinated by it since many years. I was captured by the life of the people who, though living in a hierarchical society during 19th century, are simple and unpretentious. You know, there are no heroes, heroines or villains in the story.

A hero at one time may be not-so-heroic in the next sce-ne. And the story, despite de-picting the life of highly religious rural people, at times becomes secular due to the broad-mindedness of its characters.

Shwetha: There is no complexity in the story?

Basavalingaiah: There is complexity in the story, but not in the relationship between the characters. The beauty of the story lies in its realistic and straight-forward characters.

Shwetha:: Those are the characteristics we naturally found among the Malnad people in those times.

Basavalingaiah: Yes. That is why Kuvempu, Poornachandra Tejasvi and other such writers focussed on them and successfully brought out the simplicity in them. That is why their books are great to read.

Shwetha: Why this experiment now?

Basavalingaiah: As I already told you, the urbanites are forgetting the beauty of rural life, most are not even aware of it. And Kannada theatre is not conducting many experiments nowadays; especially Rangayana which should have been very active, is in a dormant stage. I want to revive Kannada theatre through this play. Our theatre is being suffocated with frames of set rules. I want to ‘de-frame’ the theatre through ‘Male-galalli Madumagalu.’ That’s what I am teaching to the youngsters who are part of this play. They are not restricted to a place, instead they walk, move as they want to and enact their roles in their own way.

There are about 70 artistes; 50 youth among them were unemployed and from rural areas. Three months ago, they did not know anything about acting. Now some of them are playing lead roles. While recruiting, I did not ask their qualifications or degrees.

One of them, who is working as a salesgirl, is a great poetess. She is also a good actor and playing a lead role. If I had asked for a degree, I would not have got so many talented youth. This is the beauty of this experiment. It became a stage for unearthing young talents who would have remained hidden otherwise. It is a training camp for them.

Shwetha: How is the public response to the play?

Basavalingaiah: Very good. The tickets for the first day, April 23rd, are all sold out. I have bookings from all over the State — Shimoga, Bangalore, North Karnataka — for five more days.

Shwetha: Considering it a grand success, will you take it to other districts?

Basavalingaiah: Yes, of course. The play is already a success. We will stage it anywhere where proper large space with trees like Rangayana is available.

Shwetha: What about seating arrangements? Will you be able to seat 300 people comfortably?

Basavalingaiah: Yes. We are making arrangements to seat 300 people comfortably for two hours in all the venues.

Shwetha: Why move the audience from one venue to another?

Basavalingaiah: The audience are always stationary during all plays. But now I want them to be part of the play.

Shwetha: I heard people speaking that as the play will be staged the whole night and the ticket is priced just at Rs.40, it may not be safe for women to come and watch.

Basavalingaiah:: No, it is not true. Rangayana has its own audience and reputation. And women, families regularly come to watch the plays here. We have staged many plays for free. But we have not had any trouble from miscreants. Let miscreants too come; they may change their attitude after watching the play. Such instances have happened in Kannada theatre. If it happens, the play will truly be a success. It means the play has the ability to transform the society.

As for the price, many people asked me to increase it to more than Rs. 200. But I do not want the play to become the sole right of the rich. It is for the common people and if they should come, the price should be low. They are the true critics of any play, not some intellectuals who come only for criticising.

Shwetha: I also heard that people would not watch a play for nine hours and it’s too long.

Basavalingaiah: It is silly. People watch all-night Yakshagana bayalata. In villages, families come and sit for night-long plays too. What’s the difficulty in watching a play for nine hours here? Women watch TV serials daily for more than 10 hours at home. Let them come, sit and watch our experiment once. They will like it. And I am sure they will come back to watch more plays in the future.