Mysuru: Vikram Seth’s 1991 collection of collection of ten fables in poetry ‘Beastly Tales from Here and There’ was brought to life through a magnificent rendition by Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah, his wife Ratna Pathak Shah, his daughter Heeba Shah and their team of artistes..
Beastly Tales are universal stories that explore the truth about love, loss and life. The audience was in raptures as they witnessed a first time rendition in Mysuru.
Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee Naseeruddin Shah, a theater actor, director and producer, was given a grand welcome in typical south Indian style with a folk troupe in attendance. The star, inaugurated the Bahuroopi festival by unearthing a skull from the sand, which symbolized, in effect, the unearthing of ideas as penned by William Shakespeare in his play ‘Hamlet’.
People who had gathered at the various stalls in the rangayana in anticipation of the inaugural came together as one for the inauguration. Inaugurating the festival Naseeruddin Shah said, to a thunderous round of applause, “Mysuru which is cultural capital of India, has really mesmerized me with this great attendance. I have performed in front of four audiences and now I will be presenting a play to an audience of more than 1200 which will remain in my memory forever”.
Shah turns nostalgic
He then turned nostalgic. “ It was at a time when television serials were emerging as the mass engagement tool in India. One of my teachers Satyendra Dubey had rightly predicted that the bad quality of serials will bring people back to theatre and it did happen so. Theatre has not died. As long as communication is alive, theatre will remain strong. On a positive note, the students today are entering into theatre movements in more numbers which is a good sign for theatre.”
He carried on. “As a 15 year, I always dreamt of being an actor. But today It is difficult to believe that it has become my reality! When I entered the theatre world, it was the renaissance period of theatre and we were anxious to witness the future of theatre. At that point of time, Girish Karnad and Adi Ranga who were working in progressive theatre movements gave a strong foundation to the theatre movement”.
Naseeruddin Shah remembers B V Karanth, his guru
Naseeruddin Shah who was a student of BV Karanth’s National School of Drama, said, “Rangayana is the brainchild of my guru B V Karanth, He was musically gifted and I wish I had his musical nuances and a closer relationship with him. His dedication and visions have now turned out successfully”.
Later, speaking about William Shakespeare, Rangayana director H Janardhan (Janni) said, “William Shakespeare’s works do not have continental, language, cultural or any other boundaries and can be adapted by any region in the world. Though his works are 400 years old, they carry contemporaneous value and they will continue to do so.”
Karnataka’s Kannada and culture minister Umashree, revenue and district in-charge minister V Srinivas Prasad, Movie actor, Prakash Raj, deputy director S I Bhavikatti and many others were present. Umashree announced that the State government will be releasing more funds to Rangayana to conduct Bahuroopi from next year.
In the end, the common takeaway from the messages of Naseeruddin Shah, Umashree and Janardhan – What theater needs are people who are a little mad, hungry and want to feed their souls, and it is only they who can survive in theatre!
