Ushaharana: Natana Repertory brings the 150-year-old Kannada play to Chennai

The idea of widening the canvas for Tamil theatre audience by bringing plays in other Indian languages to the city, led to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s annual showcase — a multilingual theatre festival. The fourth edition featured an array of plays in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, English and Kannada.

The audience turnout, along with the variety of themes and quality of performances, was testimony to the success of this initiative. Natana Repertory, Mysuru, has been a regular participant in the festival, presenting plays across genres every year.

This time, the theatre group revisited one of the earliest independent Kannada plays, Ushaharana, staged more than a century and a half ago. It was written and staged by Shantakavi of Hoseru, regarded as one of the pioneers of Karnataka’s early theatre movement.

The conversation between the sutradhar and the dancer, who introduces the playwright — Sakkari Balacharya, popularly known as Shantakavi, sets the tone for the play. The story begins with Shiva and Parvathi engaged in a game of sarangapatta (dice), when Banasura, the powerful demon king with a thousand arms, arrives and challenges Shiva to provide him with an opponent worthy of his might.

Meanwhile, Parvathy blesses Banasura’s daughter, Usha, with the prospect of uniting with the man of her dreams. Seeking the help of Chitralekha, her confidante, Usha discovers that Aniruddha, Krishna’s grandson, is the man she loves.

Chitralekha uses her special powers to identify him among the many suitors and carries the sleeping Aniruddha, along with his bed, to Usha’s chambers. When he awakens and sees Usha, he falls for her at first sight. Banasura, however, disapproves of the union, confronts Aniruddha and imprisons him.

Krishna then engages in a battle with Banasura. When the deity prepares to unleash his Sudarshana Chakra, Shiva and Parvathi intervene and plead for Banasura’s life to be spared. Ultimately, with the blessings of both Shiva and Krishna, Usha and Aniruddha tie the knot.

The production made interesting use of props to establish different settings. Flower arches were moved around to represent the changing spaces in different spaces, while the ornate bed brought on stage was handled with precision.

The sequence in which Chitralekha displays images of different men to help Usha identify her beloved was visualised creatively. As the curtains behind the frame were drawn aside each time, different characters appeared through portraiture, inspired by forms such as Bhimmalatta and Yakshagana, adding an aesthetic embellishment to the presentation.

Equally interesting was the use of a hairband bearing distinct symbols to identify the characters: a trident for Shiva, a chakra for Sudarshana chakra, and a namam for Vishnu. The musical sequences, incorporated judiciously, enhanced the appeal of the production.

However, the familiarity of the story and the lengthy scenes, which offered little contemporary relevance, brought in a sense of weariness. The attempt to bring together the two philosophical traditions of Saivism and Vaishnavism towards the end also felt a bit abrupt and failed to make a lasting impact.

Disha Ramesh, as both Parvathi and Chitralekha, Manoj Subramaniam as Eshwara, and Chetan Raaj as Banasura captivated the audience with their fine performances. The cast also included Megha Sameera, Ranjana Khera, Vinay S., Vikri Vikas, Bhimaraya, Sanath Acharya, Chandu, Dushyanth and Bharat.

Music, design and direction were by Sripad Bhat.