Uttara Bhoopa is a famous book written by BeeChi (Rayasam Bheemasena Rao), a well-known Kannada humorist. I bought this book a couple of years ago but never had a chance to read it. However, I was lucky to see the drama directed by Antaranga at H.N Kalakshetra, Bangalore on 29th Dec 12.

The play starts with a couple's discussion on finding a suitable match for their daughter. The couple think how the to be son in law should be in terms of the maturity, character.. so on and so forth. But their daughter is of different opinion and thinks she can find the man of her choice. The couple and daughter have an argument unlike any other parents or children do. The couple decide to publish an advertisement in the newspaper to find a suitable groom and the expected qualities. They interview the young men who had applied and finally, manage to select the three. Now, the daughter is in difficult position whom to select among the three.

The play is a comedy and you would love every joke. I am yet to read the book and I am sure I can complete reading the book in a day or two. ;)


Does she find the man of her choice or reluctantly marry one among the three chosen by her parents? Find it by yourself seeing the play at the next theatre.  

Cost of the ticket - Rs 70/-

Mysooru Mallige, a popular book by K.S. Narasimha Swamy in the year 1942, which is much popular as a Kannada movie directed by T.S. Nagabharana in the year 1991, which every Kannadiga savours the beautiful songs written by the poet.

BaLegaara(Seller of bangles) Chennaiah visits Naviluru, with bunches of bangles made of glass hung to the shoulders. Naviluru is an imaginary town by the author. As Chennaiah visits Naviluru, he learns that todays women are without the bangles and men wearing earrings, steel bangle and long hair.

He enters the house of the poet, narrates the story to the present generation who are the grand children of the poet. The house where the young couple, the poet and his wife Sitamma lived since they were wed. During each visit, the lady of the house, Sitamma, would get him a pinch of jaggery along with water so that Chennaiah could quench his thirst from a long walk. But the present, great grand daughter gets him a bottle of pepsi which he is taken aback when he requests for water. He denies pepsi and requests for water with a pinch of jaggery.

The play consists of all the songs and has been performed very well by the artists. Directed by Dr B.V. Rajaram and Screenplay by Rajendra Karanth, the baLegaara: narrator of the story.

The poet, being a loyal and a humble man undergoes suffering as a young man of twenties, middle aged man, old man neglected by his children. His wife being a tolerant and patient woman supports him during odd times; scarcity of food, clothing and money!

In a way, the story depicts, if there is no pain, no feeling, you cannot write good poems or songs. The poet who is loyal without urge to mint money invites suffering to himself.

Few songs I hunted on youtube after watching the play.
Balegara Chennaya bagilige bandhihenu



Ondhirulu kanasinali nannavala kelidhenu



Premada Pariya Naanariye Kanakangi



Rayaru bandharu maavana manege



Deepavu ninnade gaaliyu ninnade



Mysooru Mallige, as title suggests, Mysore is famous for Mallige(Jasmine) flower.

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

Drafted 7th Dec '08

Last Sunday, 7th December, I watched the Kannada play Kalavu at Rangashankara .
Direction: Pramod Shiggaon,
Playwright: Dr K Y Narayanaswamy,
Troupe: Rangasampada, Bangalore.
Duration: 120 mins.

In Kannada , kaLavu means stealing. According to myth, stealing is also considered to be a smart profession. The plot of the play is all about stealing. Not everyone can be perfect at stealing without getting caught. Stealing not only refers to stealing valuable stuffs belonging to others, it can be stealing someone's dream, happiness etc... Little Krishna in Mahabharat a was also a great thief who stole butter. In this play, a buffalo is stolen and the villagers are involved in searching the lost animal. Meanwhile, the depth of truth is discovered apart from finding the lost buffalo. The play is well executed and the suspense is maintained till the end.

All of us are thieves in day-to-day life. If we haven't stolen a materialistic stuff we might have stolen something else. Yet, we don't realize that we are thieves. ;)

Also read more: here.

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

I’ve been receiving many mails about the schedule of a Hindi play “Bikhre Bimb” by Girish Karnad @ Ranga Shankara, almost every month. I watched this play way back in Nov 2006. Play stars Arundhati Nag alone. It was the first time I got the chance and stepped into the auditorium. I had tried for the tickets twice and was only told that “Tickets sold out” for the previous plays by other productions. This time, luck on my side, bought 8 tickets a couple of days before :)

The play kicks of with Arundhati Nag alone throughout, a lecturer, on a TV interview explaining as about her published book which is a major hit, sold out well and brought her success and fame – an award. When the interview concludes, she is leaving the stage her inner soul yells and thus, the story begins. Her inner soul puts forth the questions and then she reveals the truth about the book being a hit. The story of “her” book had been flipped by her. The actual story was written by her younger unmarried sister who was paralyzed – unable to move and always stayed in her room. Being a lecturer, the lady is back home only at twilight and hadn’t achieved much in life except her husband, a software engineer - who now spends most of his time at home(Work from home), had fallen in love with her, long time ago. As time passes, she turns out to be career oriented. She has been jealous of her younger sibling since her parents had always loved her younger sister than her and more beautiful than her. When her parents die, her sister starts residing at her home, in a small room. Being paralyzed, she confines her world to the room. Her brother-in-law always was in good terms to her. He had never made her feel alone and they would speak several things. One fine evening, when the elder sister comes home after the college, she hears both of them laughing over a joke. As soon as her husband notices her home, he walks out of her room without a word. She feels suspicious that her husband pays more attention to her younger sister - knows her likes, dislikes etc and their marriage is almost broken.

One day, after her death, the elder sister searches her room and finds an interesting story written by her younger sister. The last page had s signature “M. Naik”. Since both their names begin with M, she takes it for granted that no one can ever figure out who the author was! Without her husband’s knowledge, she contacts the publisher and the deal is done. A few documents from the publisher read by him in the kitchen without her knowledge. He stands speechless. Angered over him, she yells that there is nothing wrong in doing so. After that, he leaves to US and had never tried to contact her. She gets the story published under her name which turns out to be a major hit and wins an award. He doesn’t turn up for the award function. This hurts her. The story written by her sister was about the three people: herself, elder sister and sister’s husband. Younger sister describes the elder one to be the cruel one who had always been jealous of her, who never understood her feelings, never tried to be humane.

At the end of the play, the elder sister is guilty and recalls that when her husband saw the documents she should have confessed and stopped him. Now, it’s too late.

Overall, the play is worth watch.