Retelling an old tale

Niche Stagekraft's contemporary adaptation of Girish Karnad's famous play,Tale Danda,took nine months of research to take form

Niche Stagekraft’s contemporary adaptation of Girish Karnad’s famous play,Tale Danda,took nine months of research to take form

Girish Karnad’s play,Tale Danda (Death by Beheading),relates the story of social reformer and spiritual leader Basavanna (Basava) in the 12 th century,and the tumultuous final few weeks of the movement he inspired. The story relates the tale of the last weeks of massacre and turmoil because of a power struggle in the period. But it all still applies to the present times; Indian mindsets haven’t changed there is still exploitation,and people still get carried away by religion, says Jitendra R Pawar of Niche Stagekraft,which has adapted Karnad’s famous play for a showcasing in the city today.

The milestone play has been dyed in contemporary colours. It was written 20 years back,but we had to adapt it for the present generation with short attention spans,and had to keep them guessing, says Pawar. So this story from 800 years back has elements of folk,contemporary and physical theatrical forms to connect to the audience better. The adaptation took the whole team nine months to research and give shape to; we have done nothing beyond this play in the past year, he says.

Actor Devendra Thorat plays the character of Basavanna in the play,and he went through an extended period of research on the reformer to get into the skin of the character. I had to read about him,his poems,I even had to lose a bit of weight and grow a moustache, Thorat recalls. Basavanna did a lot of meditation,so I tried that myself,and it helped to some extent.

The period look and the contemporary ideas of this adaptation influenced the acting as well as the costumes. The audience should be able to differentiate between characters just by observing the way they have draped their costumes. I read up and watched films to understand what people wore in the 12 th century,but a lot got added and deleted during rehearsals too, says Abhineet Chaturvedi,a marketing professional with Bajaj Allianz,who turned costume designer and actor for Tale Danda .

(Tale Danda will be showcased today at 9:20pm at Nehru Memorial Hall)

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