A scene from a play Agni Aur Barkha.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Abhyaas Theatre, a Mumbai-based theatre company, is bringing to Bengaluru one of Girish Karnad’s popular plays, Agni Aur Barkhaon February 11.
Directed by Abhinav Grover, originally titled Agni mattu male, the play was written by Girish Karnad in Kannada in the year 1994, later translated to Hindi as Agni Aur Barkha in 1996 by Ram Gopal Bajaj and to English as The Fire and The Rain in 1997 by Karnad himself.
According to the synopsis of the play given by the troupe, among the most complex works of Karnad, this play is based on the myth of Yavakri from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata and is an innovative reimagining of the epic’s characters and events.
A scene from a play Agni Aur Barkha.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
“It is a retelling of a lesser-known episode from the epic in which the Khandava forest is burned down by Agni, the fire god, with the help of Arjuna and Krishna to provide a sacrificial altar. Karnad combines multiple myths such as these to explore contemporary social, cultural, political, and psychological issues,” said the synopsis.
Continued relevance
Known for its play-within-the-play method to depict the deception of brothers against brothers and its timeless themes, the play continues to remain a significant work in Indian theatre and has been performed in multiple languages and at numerous theatre festivals.
On being asked why the director chose to make the play though many theatre troupes have attempted it, Grover said that his team wanted a strong play that could reach all kinds of audiences. “Our last play before Agni Aur Barkha was The Caretaker by Harold Pinter. Though it is a very good play, it did not reach its potential, and we wanted to do a production that was very Indian. I have been in Udupi for a couple of years learning Yakshagana, and when the thought of this play hit me, I wanted to make it in Kannada. We made Agni mattu malewhich had a good number of shows. However, most of them in the production were amateur theatre artistes, who got busy with work and other commitments. I did not want to drop the production, so I decided to make it again in Hindi with professional actors.”
A scene from a play Agni Aur Barkha.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
“There are a lot of Karnad plays that I could have made, but I wanted to explore a play which had a man-woman conflict and a balance of the masculine and feminine. This is a very challenging text. While we made the play, we were sure that it would not just be visually aesthetic, but we tried to question, find the sub-text and worked in a very old school method“ he added.
A scene from a play Agni Aur Barkha.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
Many versions later
Questioned on how Kannada audiences or audiences in Bengaluru, who have witnessed many versions of the play, would find this version different, the director said, “Every generation needs to know what Mahabharata, Shakespeare, Karnad, Mohan Rakesh and many other playwrights are for them and what these great epics are trying to say. If a classic has really stood the test of time, then it is the greatness of the classic. These sorts of plays give an opportunity to delve into playwrights like Karnad. We have kept the play extremely minimal and really tried to scale down the grandness of Karnad plays. Let the actors play out the drama and discover it, which will be something new for audiences.”
The play is at Ranga Shankara, J.P. Nagar, at 7.30 p.m.
Published – February 08, 2025 07:13 am IST
