From Undertaking Darling by Sharanya Ramprakash
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association
Everyone knows a sassy, sensible speaking, onerous to please, robust as nails woman — the favorite aunt, elder cousin or household pal who is much “too cool” to care about being politically right. Nicely, the theatre has had its fair proportion them and the Kannada play, Undertaking Darling throws them into the limelight as soon as once more.
The character of Khanavali Chenni, whose each utterance was loaded with intelligent innuendoes and double entendres, was common in Kannada theatre. In Undertaking Darling, director and playwright Sharanya Ramprakash seems to be on the function of those girls within the face of unrelenting misogyny.
In accordance with Sharanya, the play got here out of a analysis mission for the India Basis for the Arts. “As modern-day girls, we nonetheless discover life suffocating; I puzzled how and what feisty personalities did to subvert the system in these days?” Undertaking Darling is about feminine sexuality on the crossroads of tradition and censorship, and the way these girls circumvented strictures.
From Undertaking Darling by Sharanya Ramprakash
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association
“I wished to hint my skilled ancestry as a theatre particular person and I toured Karnataka assembly vamps, villains and comedians of the stage. This play is constructed out of that analysis and contains bytes, images and private tales of ladies of the stage earlier than me.”
Sharanya additionally explored what girls have been allowed to say (or not) on stage and their play on phrases, puns and hidden meanings. “The best way phrases have been used questions notions of vulgarity. Nonetheless, it could’t be denied that over time, the dialogues for characters corresponding to Khanavali Chenni have made a literary contribution to Kannada, although it typically isn’t acknowledged.”
Throughout the course of her analysis, Sharanya met with theatre artistes from Hubli, Dharwad, Ranibennhur, Gubbi, Tumkur, Mysore and Bengaluru. “The oldest was 88-year-old R Manjulamma from the Sri Nataka Mandali. That troupe comprised a gaggle of ladies who essayed male roles, dressing up as males their entire lives. And as an organization, they delivered fairly just a few hit productions.”
Yesteryear theatre artiste Satyavathi
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association
The plot of Undertaking Darling revolves round 5 modern-day stage actors’ bid to find Khanavali Chenni. “This iconic character is happy with herself, shining exterior the dichotomy of society-approved, gender based mostly roles of spouse, sister, mom and daughter. She belongs solely to herself.”
It’s confrontational, Sharanya says. “Undertaking Darling particularly examines the feminine gaze on our our bodies and want. It is also comical as a result of the ladies we researched had a blast. They shied away from victimhood, gave pretty much as good as they obtained, and had a grand time doing it. We completely liked the method of creating Undertaking Darling.”
The type of artistry Khanavali Chenni wielded, Sharanya says, positioned her physique on the heart of the sexuality debate. “She had an opinion about all the things and used starvation as a metaphor for all types of appetites; she positioned divinity and deliberation in her physique. I used to be excited to find this character — she had a good time residing on this world as if it belonged to us girls, even when it was just for a second on stage.”
“If I had recognized this was my skilled legacy, I’d have been a really totally different performer at this time,” admits Sharanya.
The 90-minute Kannada play Undertaking Darling will see performances by Matangi Prasan, Shobhana Kumari, Shrunga BV, Shashank Rajashekar and Surabhi Vasisht.
Undertaking Darling can be staged at Ranga Shankara on September 13 at 7.30pm. Tickets costing ₹200 out there on Bookmyshow
Sharanya Ramprakash with yesteryear artiste Manjulamma
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association
Printed – September 12, 2024 08:01 pm IST
