Navarasas, nine lives, and one message
BENGALURU: Shanthi Muniswamy has always been curious about theatre. A strict viewer thus far, an upcoming production will have her, plus eight other transwomen, who have never been on stage before, showcase their stories through the navarasas. “We use the nine emotions to unbox our stories. We are not used to a theatre platform but this has given us freedom to be actors,” says the 38-year-old, talking about the play, titled Nava. According to director Sharanya Ramprakash, who worked for over 10 months with the nine protagonists, the navarasas gave them just the space they needed to challenge the mainstream aesthetic framework.
While each transwoman will enact one rasa, they will also lend support to others. For instance, Bhibatsa (disgust) has one of them talking about crawling through a sewage pipe to escape being caught by cops for sex work. “The narrative gets flipped where it’s the police, and not the sewage, causing disgust. The latter turned out to be a life-saver,” explains Ramprakash. Adbhuta (wonder) shows how donning a saree becomes a moment of embracing selfhood, an emotion that a heterosexual woman may never associate with the act. “Krodha, Shringara and Veera have a continuous narrative. Society speaks of them in ways that cause anger, and their response to this to embrace and decorate themselves.
This in turns leads to bravery since it puts them further in line of discrimination,” says the director, who prefers to use the term “co-creator” while talking of her cast. “I may have given them the techniques of theatre but the stories are all theirs,” she adds. The team worked together to explore different theatre exercises. “Sometimes, they would share stories that I felt we could use for the play. But if I asked them to write it, they’d tell me they can’t. It’s easy to forget that not everyone has access to education,” says Ramprakash. Other challenges included finding a space that was inclusive and open. At times, all nine of them weren’t available together. “Sometimes they would be recovering from violence, or arrested for soliciting sex work.
But we had one thing clear: We didn’t want to replace anyone,” says Ramprakash. Each of them underwent an individual journey of growth through this. Chandri is elated with the recognition received. “Earlier, we had two options: Sex work or begging. Now people call me an artiste, which gives me happiness,” says Chandri. Adds Muniswamy, “You don’t find many marginalised communities on stage. I feel proud to share the stage with my transgender sisters.” Nava will be staged at Ranga Shankara on March 15, at 3.30pm and 7.30pm.