Mysuru: The eight-day National Theatre Festival-2018, Bahuroopi, with the theme ‘Migration’ organised by Rangayana, got off to a colourful start on Jan.14 at Vanaranga.

Jnanpith awardee and veteran theatre personality Dr. Girish Karnad inaugurated the festival in a novel way by offering a umbrella, water, jaggery and a book to a migrant family.

Later, speaking he said that 30 years ago he had held discussions with Ramakrishna Hegde and B.V. Karanth as to what shape and direction Rangayana should take. “When I see the progress it has made in these 30 years, I feel very fortunate to be here today,” he said.

Oxygen is a must: I do not want to trouble you, I would like to share something with you today, saying which, he displayed the box, he had with him and said “This is a Oxygen box. This is my third lung. My two other lungs are not functioning properly. Hence, I am using the third device that is the oxygen box. No actor can act without fully breathing,” he said.

Recalling the incident while he was shooting for the Hindi movie “Tiger Zinda Hai,” Karnath said: “I told the producers that I would not be able to act as I needed the third lung. They told me that you could wear it and act. I acted wearing it. As a result, whomever I met this morning started asking me, do you wear a make-up and walk around. This is the world of theatre,” he said and the audience burst into laughter.

Karnad said that there were many drama schools in the country. But a new trend was started by Karanth. The National School of Drama (NSD) had been started and he brought this new trend to Karnataka through NSD. “I have been a party to all these developments. Added to this, the contribution of great theatre personalities like Alkhazi, Karanth and Bhagirathi Bai Kadam is something we all must be proud of,” he said.

Forgot to welcome Rangayana Director: After welcoming Rangayana Joint Director V.N. Mallikarjunaswamy, the name of the Director of Rangayana Bhagirathi Bai Kadam who was on the stage was not mentioned. The audience reminded the faux pas and immediately it was rectified by welcoming her too.

Girish Karnad who inaugurated the photography exhibition before he inaugurated Bahuroopi, had to rest for a short while. Later, he was driven in a car near Vanaranga. MLA Vasu released Bahuroopi booklet and NSD, Delhi, former Director Dr. Anuradha Kapoor released the Bahuroopi bulletin.

Former MLA Sathyanarayan, Kannada Book Authority Chairman Vasundhara Bhoopathi and others were present. Prof. C. Naganna compered.

We had shared rum, whiskey

Reacting to Rangayana Director Bhagirathi Bai Kadam’s comments that Karnad and Karanth had shared many dreams 30 years ago, Girish Karnad, in a lighter vein said, “Apart from the dreams, we had shared a lot of other things too like whiskey and rum, wordy duels and fights. Once when the discussion veered towards the topic whether theatre is going to survive or not, we had fought so vehemently and slept. In the morning, we had forgotten over what we had fought,” sending the audience into peals of laughter.

Everyone acts. There are also many theatre groups. However, the contribution of Rangayana is that everyone here is like one large family. The other day, ‘Shikari’ play was staged. Well-known actress and theatre personality Arundati Nag who had come to watch the play told me, ‘when I listen to the dialogues of the actors of Rangayana, it gives me so much joy.’ However, I have missed the play and I am looking forward to watch it, said Karnad.  

Very good response to Film Festival

The eight-day Film Festival organised by Rangayana was inaugurated by actress, Director and Producer Vijyalakshmi Singh at the Bhoomigeeta auditorium, in the morning on Jan.14 in the presence of actor and  Producer Jai Jagadish. Film expert N. Vidyashankar spoke about the growth of cinema. Rangayana Director Bhagirathi Bai Kadam delivered the presidential address and Joint Director Mallikarjunaswamy welcomed.

The response to the inaugural film from Denmark ‘Powaqqatsi,’ directed by Godfrey Reggio was very good.