HYDERABAD : Plays that are staged comprise different layers and layers within as after all it’s human psychology and related behaviour which formulates a story. That’s how Janapadam Theatre Repertory, which has been in the industry for the past 37 years, staged a mythological play titled ‘Chenchu Lakshmi’ performed recently at Ravindra Bharathi in collaboration with Department of Language and Culture. It’s a Telangana Chindu Yakshaganam written by Chervirala Bagaiah and directed by artiste-director Srinivas Denchanala.
The two-hour long play has a mythological story line passed on as a legacy by tribal communities and other theatre groups. It’s about a tribal girl named Chenchu Lakshmi who lives in a forest and she’s quite fond of her community, culture and lifestyle. In a parallel universe, Narsimha Swamy is a deity that is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is attacked by asura Hiranyakashipu, who was the greatest king of the realm. When all gods and sages started burning the forests for the sake of their bhakts and captured the land, Vishnu hides his wife Goddess Lakshmi in a mango fruit in the forest.
Eons later, the tribal king who’s the father of Chenchu has six crore sons sends his wife in tapasya for a girl child. One day he sees that fruit and gives it to his wife. She eats it and gets pregnant later giving birth to Chenchu Lakshmi. When Chenchu is a young girl and plays in the forest then Narsimha Swamy moves around in the forest. He falls in love with her.
He’s an avatar of Vishnu with the head of a lion. She also likes him, but doesn’t want to be with him and argues that she’s a tribal girl and if he could prove himself by being like any other tribal person.
He accepts and later with the blessing of the king they marry. Original goddess Lakshmi comes and creates a ruckus but Narsimha says that they are one soul in two bodies.
“As a director I emphasised on the man woman conflict. The play has connotations of tribal issues, man-woman conflict and political undertones. I want to stage the play in different parts of the country and need government support for the same.” He hopes to populari