Recently, a political outfit stopped the performance of Jathegiruvanu Chandira, in Shivamogga, claiming that the play includes an interfaith marriage and Muslim characters. Prominent theatre artistes in Bengaluru share their thoughts on the goings-on
Prakash Belawadi, actor
India's outrage industry is growing on all sides, left or right or whatever. The government should provide security to ensure that the artistes can continue to perform the show. People who are upset by the theme or content of the show may be allowed to protest some distance away from the venue so that they don't disturb the performance or frighten the audience. Religious fervour is a global nuisance.
Zafer Mohiuddin, theatre artiste
I don’t know why this play cannot be performed when there is a law that supports inter-caste marriage. So what is the harm in showing it on stage? There are so many Muslim social films, so why should there be no Muslim social plays.
I recently did a play called Jisne Lahore Nahi Dekha, which is a story about partition. Nobody came to oppose me. I feel we should have more shows like this to reduce hatred between the communities.
Kavita Lankesh, film director
People like my father P Lankesh and artistes like Girish Karnad wrote plays, which involved a number of Muslim characters. Protestors now would not have allowed such plays in the current situation. This shows how intolerant the society has become to any other religion, except the Hindutva supremacy.
A theatre is a place where everyone is secular and progressive, in fact, that it is being threatened now. The government should arrest the people who stopped the play as an example or it will go on.
Dr Sridhar Ramanathan, convenor-trustee, Bangalore Little Theatre Foundation
It is a very sad day for all of us with rights to creative expressions curbed and intimidated. I am talking about this play specifically which has been performed across the state for many years. One can only conclude that this was done to gain cheap publicity and I hope that the authorities and members of civil society are able to nip this in the bud.
Srinivas Beesetty, founder, Kahe Vidushak Foundation
We are not new to this kind of event. These instances have happened and one commonality in all of these instances is ignorance from the protestors and government.
When I say ignorance, it is of the context. For example, a play called Jati hi Puchho Sadhu ki by Vijay Tendulkar essentially translates to 'ask a saint his caste' but it had nothing to do with caste, rather it was about the education system.
But two years ago, the show in Madhya Pradesh was cancelled because of its title. Recently, I had taken one of my plays for a North India tour and we were supposed to perform in Gurugram. We were strictly told by the auditorium management not to use satire on politics or a certain party.