BENGALURU: In early 2019, late Kannada playwright Girish Karnad proposed an idea to his neighbour, thespian and director Arjun Sajnani. The idea was to create a theatrical production of Karnad’s final literary work
Crossing to Talikota, which Karnad himself had scripted in Kannada and translated into English. Karnad and Sajnani met at the latter’s restaurant Sunny’s, sometime in January-February, and the former requested Sajnani to helm the project and direct it.
“He handed me his script and asked me to read it. He had also added a beautiful note inside it. Now, of course, the prospect of working on an original script that had not been looked at before and written by Karnad himself was terrifically exciting. My loyalty to him was enough for me to start working on the project, and the two of us discussed the casting a little bit as well,” shares Sajnani, who had previously
directed Karnad’s play
The Fire and the Rain for the stage and later, on the screen in the early 2000s.
The staging of Crossing to Talikota took place for the first time in October 2019. Unfortunately, Karnad passed away in July that year and couldn’t see his ultimate work come to life. However, most of his family members attended the opening night. That was the only time the play got to see the light
of day.
That is until now. Sajnani is bringing back the theatrical production to the city on March 10, 11 and 12 at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall. The play will also be performed in Mumbai on March 31, April 1 and 2. Nandan and Rohini Nilekani, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had also stepped in to fund the large-scale production.
Sajnani is looking forward to the resurgence of Crossing to Talikota. “In its initial production, it was a kind of show that you couldn’t see twice as the clarity of the opening scene was missing a little bit. But over the last three years, we have fixed all the rough edges, and now it conveys exactly what Karnad wanted to say. I am also anticipating our debut performance in Mumbai as it has been pending since 2020 due to Covid killing our former production plans,” he says.
The production went through multiple changes during the Covid-stricken years.
“While I was sitting for over two years doing nothing, outside of running my restaurant, I worked on a film script for the piece as well. I always felt Karnad’s treatment of the subject matter and certain visual elements would lend itself to being a strong period film. Now, as I was working on the film script, that inherently inspired me to make certain changes to the theatrical production as well,” says Sajnani. Notable screenwriter Javed Siddiqi also helped Sajnani in writing the script in Urdu and Dakhni.
Crossing to Talikota is about the devastation of the Vijayanagara empire that eventually was brought down to dust. The empire decimated and dilapidated, would thereafter be only known as ‘the ruins of Hampi’. Sajnani feels this work, outside of celebrating Karnad’s legacy, also sheds light on South India’s history, which has been long overdue in the mainstream space.
“It is not a long play and doesn’t go into many aspects, but I feel, it rekindles interest in that period. Now, of course, creative liberties have been taken, but the event itself is the most important part, as the battle of Talikota was a catastrophic calamity. As we go through the story, we can see how Karnad, in his way, tries to trace why it happened and how it could have been avoided.
The play also gives us a glimpse of South India at that time when Muslim and Hindu cultures seemed to interact and intertwine with considerable ease and how that careful balance was manipulated and eventually led to the destruction of the empire. Karnad was always interested in the geopolitics of it all. I believe students should also attend the play to get an idea of what this historical period was like,” he concludes.
As the stage production of late playwright Girish Karnad’s Crossing to Talikota returns to B’luru, director Arjun Sajnani chats about his take on Karnad’s novel and the funding it received from Nandan & Rohini Nilekani, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw