Striving to revive theatre
By Aishwarya Jain
Hyderabad: The Telugu theatre movement can be traced back to 1892 when Gurajada Apparao wrote the play, Kanyasulkam, which was later considered as one of the greatest plays in the Telugu language.
Today, 130 years later, when digitised film dominates the market, theatre is rapidly losing popularity. But Kranthi Kumar, a 28-year-old theatre practitioner, is determined not to let that happen and has set out to counter this phenomenon.
In January, he established ‘Natarang’, a company that runs theatre workshops. Its aim is to revive the relevance of theatre and break the stereotype that theatre doesn’t ‘bring you money’. At the same time, Kumar is trying to introduce new actors to the stage.
With the help of Natarang co-founder Sherin Santhosh, a 27-year-old techie, he conducted the first workshop from February 16 onwards. Spanning over 41 days with 13 attendees, students learnt the five essential skills of voice and speech, focus and listening, imagination and creativity, and movement and characterisation.
The company put up its first performance, ‘Bhoothaganam’, on April 3 at Rangabhoomi Theatre in Gachibowli. The play was inspired by Edasseri, a Malayalam poet, and revolved around the romantic journey of a rakshasi called Pinnamma. It was written by Kranthi Kumar and the cast comprised students of the workshop and external actors.
The play was a huge success with a full house. It not only inspired first-time actors, who were on stage but many who were sitting among the audience to explore theatre in depth.
Suparna Vontair, actor and music composer in two projects, found the company holistic and inclusive in its approach. “Working with Kranthi as a beginner in theatre was very enriching. Bhoothaganam was my first-ever play as an actor and music composer. Kranthi’s plays are heavily improvised and he thinks beyond the traditional approaches to theatre. That’s amazing,” she said.
Vontair further said that Bhoothaganam had the highest turnout that Rangabhoomi has ever seen. “People came back again to watch it in May, because the story, direction, music and lighting were so captivating. Kranthi is a good teacher when it comes to stage acting, he teaches with such empathy, ease and patience,” she said.
The latest batch of the workshop presented ‘Bhaag Kodaka Bhaag’ on June 11. With three central characters — Nuvvvu, Vaadu and Nenu — this play brought forth an abstract rendition of the rat race of life. The performance struck a chord with the audience because it represented the struggles faced by every single person. This play also had a full house. When asked about the future of the company, Kranthi Kumar said he thought of it in two ways.
“Firstly, people, who currently trust the theatre platform, should be able to do so as a way of living with confidence. Secondly, the company should encourage new actors to come and explore the theatre. After five years, I would love to see our Natarang as a starting point for a minimum of 1,000 quality actors within and outside the industry,” he said.
It is Natarang’s dream to give theatre a prominent position in arts and ensure that it provides permanent income for those who trust the platform. Every day, they are moving closer to their dream, one step at a time.
