Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 24
Two day back-to-back shows of the noted playwright and actor Girish Karnad’s critically acclaimed play, “Bali: The Sacrifice”, will be held at Punjab Natshala by Alfaaz Theatre Group.
Headed by theatre artist Mandeep Ghai, the play is being staged as part of a series of activities to commemorate Girish Karnad and celebrate his work and contribution to Indian theatre.
Originally written in Kannada as “Hittina Hunja” in the year 1980 by Karnad, the play was adapted for stage by Marathi director Suhas Suryavanshi. The star cast of the play included Mandeep Ghai, Abhishek Arun Arondekar, Neena Suryavanshi and Vipin Kumar. “It was an ode to Karnad by the Hindi, Marathi and Punjabi theatre artists,” said Ghai.
“More than a play, ‘Bali’ is a plea for religious and communal co-existence. Through Bali, the socio-politically sensitive artist and dramatist dared to expose and protest the evils of institutionalising religion,” she said.
The play has four characters, a king, queen mother, queen and a mahout, who represents a common man. The four characters in the play become sacrifice and evil at various points in the course of the play. The king has converted to the religion followed by her wife, the queen, abhoring the bloodshed and duality of the religion he was born in. Throughout the play, his conflict of being stuck between two religions, one that he was born into and the other that he adopted, shows his indecisiveness.
The queen mother, unhappy over her son’s conversion, represents the power and the political system. She does not spare a thought before sacrificing personal relations or humanity for the sake of supremacy. The queen, a peace loving woman, struggles throughout the play to achieve a balance between becoming a good wife and being herself. She is asked to sacrifice herself when the king is unable to give her a child. Sent to a mahout, to whom she takes a liking and later becomes a lover too, the queen becomes the ultimate sacrifice in the end as she takes to violence, betraying her faith and herself.
The mahout or the common man in the play is shown to be inconsequential to the happenings in the play. Despite being a subordinate, he ends up being blamed for the unfateful happenings and asked to be sacrificed.
Directing the complex play, Suhas Suryavanshi was able to capture the multiple aspects of life, when we are forced to either become a sacrifice or perform one. The play was also his first Hindi production as he has mostly worked in Marathi theatre. Suhas was a part of the acclaimed play, “Mohe Piya”, directed by Prof Waman Kendre. This play holds a record in the Guiness Book of World Records for performance in three different languages on the same day and on the same stage with the same cast.