The Malgudi daze:?taking kannada theatre to the world
Abhishek Iyengar
Abhishek Iyengar is quite possibly the most unlikely theatre person you’ll ever meet. While our city circle is characterised by a small group of anglicised intellectuals, Abhishek’s most endearing quality is the fact that he remains utterly down-to-earth.
This does not in any way compromise the work he has done for Bengaluru, however. “I want to bring theatre back to the common man,” he has told me, time and time again. “Today, people seem to think that theÂatre is for intellectuals, but a few decades ago, it was the voice of the people.”
Iyengar is, in fact, the only contemporary Kannada playwright in the state and one of the only young English playwrights in the country.
Malgudi Daze, written in English, is a theatrical adaptation of R.K. Narayan’s Malgudi Days, while the more recent Magadi Days, a Kannada play, is a satirical take on Karnataka politics.
The founder of WeÂMove Theatre, IyeÂngar wants to introduce soÂmething that the arts sorely lack — strategy.
“India still looks at art forms as something of a taboo, the first thing people want to know is about the finances involved. Of course it needs finances! It has an expenditure and an income like every other business!”
With his shy smile and downright manner, Abhishek prefers to do things from the background, preferring to let the limelight seek him, if it chooses to do so.
He has one secret indulgence, however and laughs and laughs when I ask him about it.
Abhiskek likes to sit in local tea shops, with his trademark cup of sulaimani chai and listen to other people’s conversations! “It gives me great insight into what the people think,” he said.
He started out doing theatre in school, but the profession found him almost by chance.
“I was on Orkut one day and I found an advertisement asking for a screenplay writer. I thought this would be my chance to make it,” he said. What he found, however, was a couple of kids just as much in the dark as he was, who weren’t sure whether they wanted to do a play or make a short film. With Iyengar’s expertise in theatre, a play it was, and ‘WeMove Theatre’ came into being. “In college, I wrote for newspapers, which honed my skills,” he recalled.
Should you ever spot him at one of the said local tea shops, join him for a spell, you will get an interesting conversation out of it, at the very least! This young man has made his presence felt in 2013 and if that's anything to go by, he will be one of the movers and shakers of 2014, too.
Next: Lending a voice - what’s queer about that?
Lending a voice - what’s queer about that?
As the regressive Article 377 put the nation’s LGBT community on the offensive, Bengaluru, we’re proud to say, has always been a liberal, hospitable city. Anil Srivatsa, a businessman with a difference, has had a big role to play in this.
The founder of ‘QRadio’, the country’s only radio station dedicated entirely to the LGBT community, Anil has accomplished what few would dare to do. QRadio came out with a splash, for the marginalised community had finally found a voice.
“There is hardly any representation in the media,” Anil agrees. “It’s as if the community doesn’t exist.” WhÂen Anil was a radio hoÂst on an FM station, he had a show on homÂosÂexuality that was so well recÂeiÂved, it earned him a GaÂy Icon tag from the community in DeÂlhi. “It’s true that there are still people who don’t even have a term for how they feel.”
Things, however, are not as they seem. Did Anil face any challenges setting up the station?
“Of course, there was a lot of scepticism at the start, for it was a bold move. That didn’t matter, however. Now, I’ve reached a point where I’m asking myself, does the community really want this? I don’t see them lapping it up in the way I expected.”
It is an honest answer from a businessman, who admits that, at the end of the day, this is an enterprise that required a hefty investment on his part. “Meeting a social cause and not making money is alright,” he said. “But not being able to do either?
It's difficult to point fingers, however, for the stigma is so overwhelming that the gay community can hardly be blamed for wanting to stay quiet.
With Article 377 making things even harder, all we can do is wait. Will they pick up on an opportunity or slink into the shadows once more?
Next: The 2013 Twitrospective!
The 2013 Twitrospective!
Darshana ramdev | DC
“I have a lot of free time,” says Ramesh Srivats happily, for I, being a terribly late riser, call him three-and-a half minutes before his deadline.
The former ad man is now the Twitter superstar, with over a 1,50,000 followers on the social networking site. “I suppose I’m the non-actor, non-politician with the most followers,” he acknowledges.
‘Why Nitish didn’t give notish?’ he enquired, after Railway Minister Nitish Kumar’s abrupt resignation from the Cabinet.
“I thought Arvind Kejriwal was all about values. He’s turning out to be mostly about prices,” he said, on December 27, receiving, no doubt, hundreds of retweets. That’s what Ramesh does, though. His outstanding wit and startling insight into, well, everything, really, has made him a phenomenon across the internet. “I’m practicing my celebrity smile,” he says, laughing.
That’s what our conversation largely comprises — laughter. He has me laughing so hard, it is only with the greatest effort that I manage to stutter a question or two. The former IITian, armed with a Bachelor’s degree in technology, went straight into advertising, only to become ‘The most poorly paid graduate in my batch!’
After nearly two decades in advertising, Ramesh, ‘the armchair thinker, excessive drinker and occasional writer’ soon grew weary of the outdated methodologies that industry employed.
“I ran away from advertising to get into advertising,” he remarked. Now the founder of TenTenTen, he says he spends his time playing the boss, “I call a meeting every now and then, but mostly, I play computer games — not fancy ones, mind you, mostly chess,” he remarked.
“For half an hour a day, I catch up on what the world is saying and fire off a tweet or two!” TenTenTen is actually a software company, which he says is run mostly by his team — “I graduated with a B.Tech degree, so naturally, I know nothing about computers.”
The veteran ad guru, who admits he’s always been a suit (read: frustrated copywriter, “We spend our time pointing fingers at the copywriters and thinking, I can write better than these buggers”) More seriously, he says Indian advertising has a long way to go, especially in the online sphere. “We all know things about brands because of what our friends tell us, not because of the ad they force us to watch on youtube. I’ve clicked on an ad like, three times, that too because that ‘x’ button has been in the wrong place!”
Did he find his funny side only after twitter? “No no, all this comes from a life of PJs,” he says at once. His favourite threat to his teenage son, who he claims is highly embarrassed by his dad’s online presence is, “I’ll post another bad joke on your friends’ walls!” His popularity didn’t come as a surprise, for his blog, Let’s put a party found a massive fanbase. “As soon as I came to twitter, they came off as well,” he said.
His comments are far from diplomatic, albeit veiled in humour, they’re usually quite inflammatory. Has he ever had stones thrown at him on the street? “I think I say very deep and meaningful things, but people don’t seem to agree. They just laugh! Of course, much is forgiven if you can laugh about it. I do get virtually stoned, of course, especially when I put down a political party.”
This brings us neatly to the state of politics today. “I’m very happy with the whole Aam Aadmi Party victory,” he remarked.
“I like all mass movements, in fact, I like people who get up and do things, I live vicariously through all of them!” That said, however, Ramesh freely acknowledges his dislike for all political parties in general.
“They’re all the same. If they don’t curb our economic freedoms, they curb our social freedoms. They seem to take the worst qualities out of each wing and emulate those! As for the BJP, they don’t belong to any wing. Whatever wing the Congress takes, they will immediately take the other. I call them the Other Wing.”
Maybe it’s time Ramesh entered politics, then? “I’m a religion man all the way,” he laughs. He’s even got his name all planned out: Put-a-party Sri Sri Srivats! “Politicians are all very well, but who owns an island off Scotland? Baba Ramdev!”
Next: Always from the art: Abhishek Poddar
Always from the art: Abhishek Poddar
It was the author William Dalrymple, who first mentioned Abhishek Poddar’s art collection. “He has the best collection of modern art in the country,” he said, emphatically, pulling out his phone to show me photographs he’d taken at the Poddar home.
“William is a very generous friend,” says Abhishek, almost dismissively. While that might be true, AbhiÂshÂek’s art collection is arÂguably unÂmatÂched.
“We’ve beÂen collecting art for over 25 yeÂars now, from the days when noÂbody was intÂeÂrÂested in it,” said Abhishek.
The collection has grown so big that the Poddars are actually considering opening BenÂgaluru’s very first art museum. “It would span paintings, photography, textiles, folk art and popular art,” he said, for his own extensive collection comprises all these forms.
The founder of ‘Tasveer gallery’, PodÂdar has done much for Indian art, photography in particular.
Since the gallery has made a name for itself across the world, has Abhishek ever considered featuring more indÂigenous photographers, instead of names everybody already knoÂws? “We represent all thÂeÂse people,” AbhiÂshek says quiÂckly.
“The idea, however, is to focus on work that is rooted in an InÂdian context, whether the work is by an Indian or a foreigner.”
