Bad Hindu is a play by Sunanda Raghunathan's troupe Gudugudupukkari. It was staged in Alliance francais Madras on Nov 25. The title of the play does have a major role in either bringing in or keeping out an audience, and it was more so evident in this play. A rather dull head had shared information about this play in a group stating, ' go find out if you are a good hindu or a bad Hindu'; i was worried this was not the kind of negative rave this play deserved, and made me wish the actual turn out for the day had been better.
I had earlier had the opportunity to watch Sunanda's tamil play Mundhirikotte in 2016. The play had been written by Sunanda for a program wherein she along with a bunch of other Indian playwrights had been mentored by British council. I had also had the opportunity to attend a workshop conducted by Sunanda in this context.
I had been quite blown away by the writing and acting in Mundhirikotte. The actors who had been cast in that play had won me over with the ease with which they stepped into their roles. They made a 30 something guy playing a school boy look so very natural. i loved the writing for so very effortlessly transporting the audience to a remote place in Parangipettai near Cudaalore and yet not get lost in the details, but stay true the bigger picture. So i had quite a lot to expect from a Sunanda's play. And in Bad Hindu , i must say Sunanda has achieved a new high.
In this play Sunanda has beautifully married elements of Kattaikkoothu, the traditional folk theatre played in temple festivals in the Tamil country, and elements of modern English theatre- this play had been conceived and executed as a part of her course in Theatre in London.
The play opens with a stage setting of a mini wooden dais placed between two mannequins, one modelled after a Raja charecter in the traditional Kattaikoothu, rich and gallant with all its embellishments and another 'musketeer' like looking mask draped in coils of red textile ( later in the play u realise the mannequin has flowing hair and it is feminine). Sunanda also appears with her face' one half painted to depict a man and the other half adorned to depict a woman. While you eagerly await the story that was going to bind these binaries to unveil, Sunanda walks in bouncing and announcing herself as the Kattiyakaran, who was going to take us through the story of the sacrifice of Aravan. The mention of Aravan, the Naga prince, born to Arjuna and Ulupi, and who would later be married to a disguised Krishna- the binaries quite fall in place.
While in the first few minutes you feel Sunanda was not doing enough justice to meet the energy and verve that are the mark of a Kattiyakaran of a traditional Koothu performance, but very soon she convincingly settles down into a rhythm, tenor and wit that are as much a remarkable feature of the Kattiyakaran performance. You realise, as the play proceeds, given the loops and repetitions, that this was quite an intelligent choice.
Sunanda, gives the audience a feeler of the story of the Mahabharata, narrating the key event of disrobing of Draupadi that leads to Kurukshetra war, the mother of all wars. This narration is in English and she peps it up with interesting bits like Duryodhana and his 100 siblings have probably unintentionally inspired the ploy in every regional movie that the bad guy is always surrounded by a big coterie of henchmen to do his bidding.
She switches to Tamil while enacting the koothu segments of the Sacrifice of Aravan, she takes due care to apprise her audience with the translation of the tamil lines to come. Music and singing are important aspects of a koothu performance. While Sunanda's singing leaves much to be desired, her clear diction of the line and the strength of the language carry the show for the day. The lines, as she later revealed were taught to her by a traditional koothu artist Thilaga, add a lot of strength and character to the play.
While you ready yourself to immerse in the sad story of the Aravan, the canny manoeuvres of Krishna, the ill fate that falls upon the poor souls and the contemporary relevance of a marriage between Aravan and krishna etc., you are jerked into interruptions in the narration by the alter ego of the Actor.
The alter ego reminds one of the characters we encounter in online networking platforms. It interrupts the performance by passing judgments on the personal values of the actor and demands that she makes amends before she can proceed with the performance. The actor does everything in her means to appease this alter ego so that she can resume her performance.
These interruptions and the subsequent loop of enacting Aravan's sacrifice, together make for a very interesting cocktail of social commentary, spirited performance, and an immersive story telling experience. Sunanda has intelligently choreographed these loops and has averted her audience from slipping into boredom by pepping these loops with witty engagements with the audience and having them eagerly look forward to the next segment of the Aravan story to unveil in the loop.
The Q n A session after the play revealed that the title alluded to the fact that the actor was a Bad Hindu in the sense that she had to keep taking rebirths to appease her alter ego. I thought the title could as well been used as one of the judgements, a closing one, that the alter ego passes on the actor, which in turn the actor could be shown losing in making amends.
The absence of music in the koothu segments was quite conspicuous. Sunanda mentioned that this was intentional, as she wanted to avoid the unintended flavour that music might add to the play. It may be said that, for many in the audience the koothu segments in the play would be a first time eperience of a traditional koothu performance, it would be better justified in serving it with a minimal dabbing of musical instruments.
In all, it was a terrific one woman show ably accompanied by Charles on the lighting and other talents on designing the stage and managing the sound. The play is a immersive roller coaster ride, that takes you through the ancient times of the Mahabaratha, in a language that sounds very folk, witty snide remarks at our contemporary times and morals and the lack of them that are ever relevant.
I wish to add again that, this is not a play about good or bad Hindu but about a terrific theatre experience.
I had earlier had the opportunity to watch Sunanda's tamil play Mundhirikotte in 2016. The play had been written by Sunanda for a program wherein she along with a bunch of other Indian playwrights had been mentored by British council. I had also had the opportunity to attend a workshop conducted by Sunanda in this context.
I had been quite blown away by the writing and acting in Mundhirikotte. The actors who had been cast in that play had won me over with the ease with which they stepped into their roles. They made a 30 something guy playing a school boy look so very natural. i loved the writing for so very effortlessly transporting the audience to a remote place in Parangipettai near Cudaalore and yet not get lost in the details, but stay true the bigger picture. So i had quite a lot to expect from a Sunanda's play. And in Bad Hindu , i must say Sunanda has achieved a new high.
In this play Sunanda has beautifully married elements of Kattaikkoothu, the traditional folk theatre played in temple festivals in the Tamil country, and elements of modern English theatre- this play had been conceived and executed as a part of her course in Theatre in London.
The play opens with a stage setting of a mini wooden dais placed between two mannequins, one modelled after a Raja charecter in the traditional Kattaikoothu, rich and gallant with all its embellishments and another 'musketeer' like looking mask draped in coils of red textile ( later in the play u realise the mannequin has flowing hair and it is feminine). Sunanda also appears with her face' one half painted to depict a man and the other half adorned to depict a woman. While you eagerly await the story that was going to bind these binaries to unveil, Sunanda walks in bouncing and announcing herself as the Kattiyakaran, who was going to take us through the story of the sacrifice of Aravan. The mention of Aravan, the Naga prince, born to Arjuna and Ulupi, and who would later be married to a disguised Krishna- the binaries quite fall in place.
While in the first few minutes you feel Sunanda was not doing enough justice to meet the energy and verve that are the mark of a Kattiyakaran of a traditional Koothu performance, but very soon she convincingly settles down into a rhythm, tenor and wit that are as much a remarkable feature of the Kattiyakaran performance. You realise, as the play proceeds, given the loops and repetitions, that this was quite an intelligent choice.
Sunanda, gives the audience a feeler of the story of the Mahabharata, narrating the key event of disrobing of Draupadi that leads to Kurukshetra war, the mother of all wars. This narration is in English and she peps it up with interesting bits like Duryodhana and his 100 siblings have probably unintentionally inspired the ploy in every regional movie that the bad guy is always surrounded by a big coterie of henchmen to do his bidding.
She switches to Tamil while enacting the koothu segments of the Sacrifice of Aravan, she takes due care to apprise her audience with the translation of the tamil lines to come. Music and singing are important aspects of a koothu performance. While Sunanda's singing leaves much to be desired, her clear diction of the line and the strength of the language carry the show for the day. The lines, as she later revealed were taught to her by a traditional koothu artist Thilaga, add a lot of strength and character to the play.
While you ready yourself to immerse in the sad story of the Aravan, the canny manoeuvres of Krishna, the ill fate that falls upon the poor souls and the contemporary relevance of a marriage between Aravan and krishna etc., you are jerked into interruptions in the narration by the alter ego of the Actor.
The alter ego reminds one of the characters we encounter in online networking platforms. It interrupts the performance by passing judgments on the personal values of the actor and demands that she makes amends before she can proceed with the performance. The actor does everything in her means to appease this alter ego so that she can resume her performance.
These interruptions and the subsequent loop of enacting Aravan's sacrifice, together make for a very interesting cocktail of social commentary, spirited performance, and an immersive story telling experience. Sunanda has intelligently choreographed these loops and has averted her audience from slipping into boredom by pepping these loops with witty engagements with the audience and having them eagerly look forward to the next segment of the Aravan story to unveil in the loop.
The Q n A session after the play revealed that the title alluded to the fact that the actor was a Bad Hindu in the sense that she had to keep taking rebirths to appease her alter ego. I thought the title could as well been used as one of the judgements, a closing one, that the alter ego passes on the actor, which in turn the actor could be shown losing in making amends.
The absence of music in the koothu segments was quite conspicuous. Sunanda mentioned that this was intentional, as she wanted to avoid the unintended flavour that music might add to the play. It may be said that, for many in the audience the koothu segments in the play would be a first time eperience of a traditional koothu performance, it would be better justified in serving it with a minimal dabbing of musical instruments.
In all, it was a terrific one woman show ably accompanied by Charles on the lighting and other talents on designing the stage and managing the sound. The play is a immersive roller coaster ride, that takes you through the ancient times of the Mahabaratha, in a language that sounds very folk, witty snide remarks at our contemporary times and morals and the lack of them that are ever relevant.
I wish to add again that, this is not a play about good or bad Hindu but about a terrific theatre experience.
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