After seeing plays like Ammavara ganda, Home rule, Poli kitty and huttadalli hutta written by T.P.Kailasam, I had a kind of idea about the style of Kailasam's writings. Most of the plays had a comic mix of English language in Kannada script. Most of the comic scenes are attributable to the blend of two languages.
Another trait of kailasam was to show the social situation or critique a social situation in a comical way. So i had a kind of idea about what to expect in the next play written by Kailasam which i wanted to see "Saafalya" meaning fulfillment. This play was staged at Ranga Shankara on Saturday 21 February at 7:30 P.M.
I did read the review on the internet. The play was about Kailasam's imagination of the death of Ekalavya, once an envy of Dronacharya and Arjuna (In the epic Mahabharata). I found the plot interesting since there is no mention in Vyasabharata about Ekalavya's death but Ekalavya does figure in the list of people killed by Krishna.
Kailasam was known to be an eccentric. I understand from my aunt who has read and heard about Kailasam much more than i have that Kailasam was agnostic when it came to issues of religion and god.
My understanding of Kailasam's style and the plot of the play itself created a kind of expectation in me about the play. But What was in store?
There were only two characters in the play on stage and one vocal character rendering only voice from back stage.
There were only two characters in the play Mr.Krishna and Mr.Ekalavya. The play started by Krishna dressed in jeans and baniyan and characteristic peacock feather on his floppy hat climbing down the stairs throwing toffees to the audience.
He meets Ekalavya on the stage who will be preparing himself for the kurukshetra war. He would be fighting for the kauravas against pandavas since his guru dronacharya was with the side of Kauravas. Ekalavya will be charged up and his mind will be full of revenge against Arjuna, the latter preparing to wage a war against his Guru.
A Dialogue builds up between Krishna the cheater and Ekalavya. At the outset Ekalvya will not recognize Krishna and talk to him like any other person. But at regular intervals he will be amazed by the radiance of Krishna, his knowledge about Ekalavya etc.
A philosophical dialogue builds up between the two. A boring prolonged dialogue about right and wrong continues for over 10 minutes. Ekalavya goes on to explain that he protects the innocent deers from the cunning fox. He protects the innocent from the treacherous animals. He and his mother would sacrifice the fruits in the trees for migrant birds. Cunning Krishna responds that he too does similar noble acts by protecting the noble from the ignoble, innocent from the cunning and so on. Both of them say that they treat the innocent lives like their brothers.
The dialogue goes into the phenomenon of death. Krisha will explain to Ekalavya that people take rebirth if they have unfulfilled desires. So he tells ekalavya that one must die without any desire.
As the play continues into relatively deeper philosophy, Krishna asks Ekalvya why the latter sacrifice the fruits in the trees for migratory birds. When Ekalavya will be explaining about the joy he and his mother derive by watching the birds enjoying the fruits, Mr.Krishna will shoot him with a pistol. Yes he will shoot him. Kailasam's style is visible only in this scene.
Then the dialogue continues wherein Ekalavya will accuse Krishna of treachery. Krishna explains to Ekalavya that death must also be welcome and show his dashavathara. The acting was so bad that it took me some time to understand that it was dashavathara.
Finally Ekalavya requests that his mother must not feel the pain of his death. Krishna grants the wish by killing Ekalavya's mother soon after Ekalavya's death.
For me and my friends, this was the most boring play we have ever watched. Though it was for just an hour, there was neither entertainment nor a message. It was just a boring dialogue. Since i have had discussion in my friend's circle about deeper philosophical topics like absolute truth, right and wrong, the dialogue about right and wrong never appealed to me and my friends.
So far as Kailasam was concerned, this play would definitely qualify him to be an eccentric. This was so totally different from others, probably the right word is to describe Kailasam is versatile and not eccentric. This play did not have a single comic scene. Apart from Krishna's attire and the mode of killing, nothing was characteristic of kailasam as i understand kailasam.
My feeling is that T.P.Kailasam would have written this play towards the end of his life (he did not live for long). May be he was bought into the idea that death was panacea for all the ills in the society. This is only my assessment. I do not know whether this is true or no. But by and large the message of the play was that there is nothing right or nothing wrong in this world, Its all relative and death must not be unwelcome and its one of the solution to move away from pain.
I do not know what made Kailasam write this play. Its totally different from Kailasam's other plays. it is usually said in Academic circles that only SOME has been understood about Kailasam and its impossible to understand SUM of Kailasam.
Another trait of kailasam was to show the social situation or critique a social situation in a comical way. So i had a kind of idea about what to expect in the next play written by Kailasam which i wanted to see "Saafalya" meaning fulfillment. This play was staged at Ranga Shankara on Saturday 21 February at 7:30 P.M.
I did read the review on the internet. The play was about Kailasam's imagination of the death of Ekalavya, once an envy of Dronacharya and Arjuna (In the epic Mahabharata). I found the plot interesting since there is no mention in Vyasabharata about Ekalavya's death but Ekalavya does figure in the list of people killed by Krishna.
Kailasam was known to be an eccentric. I understand from my aunt who has read and heard about Kailasam much more than i have that Kailasam was agnostic when it came to issues of religion and god.
My understanding of Kailasam's style and the plot of the play itself created a kind of expectation in me about the play. But What was in store?
There were only two characters in the play on stage and one vocal character rendering only voice from back stage.
There were only two characters in the play Mr.Krishna and Mr.Ekalavya. The play started by Krishna dressed in jeans and baniyan and characteristic peacock feather on his floppy hat climbing down the stairs throwing toffees to the audience.
He meets Ekalavya on the stage who will be preparing himself for the kurukshetra war. He would be fighting for the kauravas against pandavas since his guru dronacharya was with the side of Kauravas. Ekalavya will be charged up and his mind will be full of revenge against Arjuna, the latter preparing to wage a war against his Guru.
A Dialogue builds up between Krishna the cheater and Ekalavya. At the outset Ekalvya will not recognize Krishna and talk to him like any other person. But at regular intervals he will be amazed by the radiance of Krishna, his knowledge about Ekalavya etc.
A philosophical dialogue builds up between the two. A boring prolonged dialogue about right and wrong continues for over 10 minutes. Ekalavya goes on to explain that he protects the innocent deers from the cunning fox. He protects the innocent from the treacherous animals. He and his mother would sacrifice the fruits in the trees for migrant birds. Cunning Krishna responds that he too does similar noble acts by protecting the noble from the ignoble, innocent from the cunning and so on. Both of them say that they treat the innocent lives like their brothers.
The dialogue goes into the phenomenon of death. Krisha will explain to Ekalavya that people take rebirth if they have unfulfilled desires. So he tells ekalavya that one must die without any desire.
As the play continues into relatively deeper philosophy, Krishna asks Ekalvya why the latter sacrifice the fruits in the trees for migratory birds. When Ekalavya will be explaining about the joy he and his mother derive by watching the birds enjoying the fruits, Mr.Krishna will shoot him with a pistol. Yes he will shoot him. Kailasam's style is visible only in this scene.
Then the dialogue continues wherein Ekalavya will accuse Krishna of treachery. Krishna explains to Ekalavya that death must also be welcome and show his dashavathara. The acting was so bad that it took me some time to understand that it was dashavathara.
Finally Ekalavya requests that his mother must not feel the pain of his death. Krishna grants the wish by killing Ekalavya's mother soon after Ekalavya's death.
For me and my friends, this was the most boring play we have ever watched. Though it was for just an hour, there was neither entertainment nor a message. It was just a boring dialogue. Since i have had discussion in my friend's circle about deeper philosophical topics like absolute truth, right and wrong, the dialogue about right and wrong never appealed to me and my friends.
So far as Kailasam was concerned, this play would definitely qualify him to be an eccentric. This was so totally different from others, probably the right word is to describe Kailasam is versatile and not eccentric. This play did not have a single comic scene. Apart from Krishna's attire and the mode of killing, nothing was characteristic of kailasam as i understand kailasam.
My feeling is that T.P.Kailasam would have written this play towards the end of his life (he did not live for long). May be he was bought into the idea that death was panacea for all the ills in the society. This is only my assessment. I do not know whether this is true or no. But by and large the message of the play was that there is nothing right or nothing wrong in this world, Its all relative and death must not be unwelcome and its one of the solution to move away from pain.
I do not know what made Kailasam write this play. Its totally different from Kailasam's other plays. it is usually said in Academic circles that only SOME has been understood about Kailasam and its impossible to understand SUM of Kailasam.
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