Horatu Ulidavanu

Details of the play

Name: Horatu Ulidavanu

Production House: Antharanga

Designed and Directed By: Archana Shyam

Star Cast:             

SriHarsha : as Govinda

Divyashree: as Govinda’s Wife

Deepak Subramanya : as Mohan

Bhargav Vashistha : as Ramashastry

Arvind: as a representative of the bank Govinda used to work at

Vijay Jois: as Chaccha Chowdry

Sreesha: as a mantra-vaadi

Pooja and Varshini: in the ensemble

Written by: Original Story Ilham by Manav Kaul, Horatu Ulidavanu has been translated by Jagadish Malnad.

Behind the scenes:

Make-Up: Ramakrishna Kannarapadi
Lighting: Manju Narayan
Movement Director: Jyotsna Rao
Setwork and Properties: Vishwanath Mandi and team  

Costume design:   Smitha Kulkarni

Sound: Bhamini Nagaraju         

Origins:  A very literal translation of Manav Kaul’s Hugely popular play Ilham, the play has been translated to Kannada by Jagadish Malnad

Misc Technical Data: 

The season’s of life, Expectations, A journey that stutters while bearing the burden of life

Cost of Ticket: Watched it for free at the 3 day festival.

Where I watched the play: K H Kalasoudha at Chamarajapete

When I watched the play: On International women’s day 2019 9^th March

History:

Archana Shyam is one of the very few female directors present in a largely male bastion of Kannada theatre, and her repertoire of work has spanned across a considerable genre of work. She is part of the Antharanga group, which has been hosting plays from the early eighties. She and her husband Ram came across this play of the notable play-writer Manav Kaul (Remember him, yes the husband in Tumhari Sulu) and after obtaining permission from him, got in touch with Jagadish Malnad who then provided a literal translation of the script(more on this later).

Synopsis

This is the age of the high-tech dreams, this is the age where in young is in, young is trendy, alas this is also the age where prices have sky-rocketed, this is also the age where your position in society is everything. This is the age of social media your social presence takes a toll on who you are, what you want to be.

Will a tired hungry soul, yearning for some solace find its path? Will a fragile thin red line be crossed beyond the point of no return? Is it okay for a family man to alternate between his childhood and current routine that he seems to have fallen into? Can he fly high just like the bird that chirps to him every day? Can he put up a charade that he is all fine and normal? Can he transgress between the realms of fantasy and current reality? Will a father come back from the thresholds of insanity into the world of his caring and now scared family? Will a friend get back his best pal?

To find out more, you will need to watch the play, just like how I did.

Remarks

A play from the stable of Antharanga always is close to my heart, and need-I-mention I did have a few heartburns, so let me start my review.

The YAY’s:

First of all, a big huge shout out for the costume design. Getting fantasy characters and creating a mesmerizing and dazzling display for each fantasy characters. Job Well Done!!!

Timing the bulb on and off, every time one of the characters either switched the light on and off, The folks got it right, made me wonder, hey!!! Did they hook up the spot light to the switch??????

And then I had a chance to watch the seasoned actors who shone through, as if like the stage is where they belong: Sriharsha was a revelation, his dance moves with the chorus gang for me was a spectacle to watch.  Deepak Subramanya as a mute beggar…well should I say that I’m lost for words to describe (on mute you see ;-)  the transition from a talkative person that only Govinda can hear, to realizing that the beggar is actually mute was enacted sensationally.   Then comes a dear friend “Chaacha Chowdry” Vijay Jois… if there was ever a role tailor-made for him, this my friends is it. The way the chorus gang enter into the fantasy world that Govinda lives in was FAB…. Utterly FAB!

The concept of the psychiatrist’s interview to delve into Govinda’s condition was truly wonderful, the power of a flashlight (let me say shone through brightly), truly well visioned, kudo’s to whom so ever thought that through.

The NAY’s

•  My honest opinion is that the set design, especially, the aluminum fold-able chairs was a sore stand out. The bed that Govinda sleeps is a single bed, hmm does this mean his wife sleeps with the kids??? Hmm interesting. For a middle class house, where in the lord of the house goes all out to remove his shoes inside, and in which there are three other people, there are no shoes either inside or outside to depict that there are other people staying there.
•  For a middle class family, who are struggling to make ends meet, the purse that the lady of the house carries and her choice of designer chappals, hmm that would have burnt a mighty hole in the pocket of the lord of the house.
•  The seasoned actors carried the play on their able shoulders, however, the ears of the second rung of actors must be given a mighty twirl, they jump through walls and bypassing the door-ways of the house as though they are Bruce-Almighty not caring a damn to maintain the decorum that the others actors are perfectly doing. They spoilt the whole experience built by going thru the walls of invisible doorway, which is marked by a doormat..
•  Divyashree in the role of the wife was a tad too nagging for my liking, emotion-stability should have been the key, angst and pain could also have also been showcased,  if anger, jibes and showdown’s is what a man has to face every day from his better half, it is better that he descends into a world of gloom\fantasy than the reality he has to face. However, let me also note that her emotions during the psychiatric examination was definitely better.
•  The costume selection of Ramashastry the trusted Ramu-kaaka of old hindi films, or a best-friend of the nineteen ninety’s needs improvement. He is showcased in the play as having a fashion cloth store, he has the money to buy his best friend imported liquor (though it is Ramashastry who consumes most of it) but when it comes to clothes that he wears, they are still stuck in the early nineteen eighties, It took me to a time when Amol Palekar was wearing oversized\undersized jubbah pyjama’s and playing golmaal golmaal.
•  The team must figure out how to fix the battery issues of the LED strip light enabled chorus costumes, they keep burning out and atleast 2 folks either had glasses on that did not work or their strip lights just stopped working. And psst Smitha, the size of everyones costumes was atleast 3-4 sizes too large….. some tinkering before the next show perhaps.
•  One very small input to Harsha is that a middle aged banker would have a slight drop of shoulders as age gets to him, Harsha was a little too erect for a mundane middle aged banker. Right now the best inspiration is the middle aged guy who is “Ghar bechane ka bhoot savaar” 99acres
•  My Biggest let down…A tiring, boring and insipid word-to-word translation of Ilham by Jagadish Malnad, the script has failed to hold the same magnetism, the same charisma and the same imagination that Manav Kaul has used whilst he penned the magnificent Ilham. No matter how hard the actors try, the power of the hindi thesaurus like script of Ilham is but a watered down version in Kannada. No, No I am not exaggerating, Sample this, The lines that were once present on my palms are now appearing on my forehead….. This loosely translated to kannada is a sure shot howler…

My Open questions:

§  There is a reference to a boy child of Govinda in many instances throughout the play, however he never ever comes on stage. And he does not even drop by when his whole family is being counseled\interrogated by a psychiatrist. Interesting!!! Is he there or was he a figment of my own imagination just like Govinda envisioned Chaccha Chowdry......

5) My Rating

 I rate this as:

  

Inthi,

Manuswath