Published: June 4, 2010 15:53 IST | Updated: June 4, 2010 15:54 IST
G.K. GOVINDA RAO, June 4, 2010
On the move
Basalingaiah. The theatre director, who has just presented his magnum
opus Malegalalli Madumagalu, recalls his humble beginning
Born into a Dalit family, noted theatre director C. Basalingaiah was
brought up by his mother under difficult circumstances. He spent most
of his childhood and youth in the slums of Srirampuram in Bangalore.
Those were the days of Emergency. "True, the country had lost freedom,
but we, particularly the youth of my caste and class were exposed to
new thoughts. Thanks largely to people like D.R. Nagaraj, Ki.Ram.
Nagaraj and C.G. Krishnaswamy (C.G.K.) we were looking at the world in
a new light. I heard the name of Marx and Lohia too and we debated
extensively about what mattered to our society: caste or class."
Post-emergency theatre took on a new dimension. Dalit Sangharsha
Samithi came into existence and was instrumental in providing an extra
dimension of dignity and self-respect to the generation.
The two persons he remembers with gratitude and admiration are
Prasanna and C.G.K, who were by then noted theatre persons. "Belchi",
"Mother" and "Galileo" were a great influence on him. And so were the
many street plays that were staged coinciding with Indira Gandhi
contesting the elections from Chikmagalur. Watching this young man
with such energy and talent, Prasanna and C.G.K. "literally thrust Rs.
2000 in my pocket and packed me off to National school of Drama. My
mother believed that I was going for my M.A. or M.Sc. If she had known
it was for theatre she would have broken my legs. NSD made a lasting
impact… especially people like Badal Sircar." For Basalingaiah there
are no greater writers than Vyasa, Valmiki and Kalidasa. "They have
women at the centre of their works – Sita, Kunti, Draupadi and
Shakuntala and it has always drawn me to it. It is no surprise that I
have been impressed by Mahadeva's 'Kusumabale'." He remembers with
gratitude Ki.Ram. Nagaraj's guidance and states in the same breath
that Buddhist Jataka Tales are very significant for him. "It is
basically, I should say, my exposure to Allama and Basava, that helped
my breaking away from the three dimensional theatre to open space," he
explains. He then moved to Gandhiji's 1983 South African train
incident, which C.B. said "asserted human dignity. Gandhiji's marathon
walks are a metaphor for movement, keeping things moving, dynamic." It
is because of Buddha and Ambedkar that his personal, social and
cultural selves remain integrated, says Basalingaiah.
When Basalingaiah worked on P. Lankesh's play "Sankranti", he rendered
it contemporary by replacing Basavanna and Bijjala with Gandhiji and
Nehru. He continues to believe that "State power and organised
religion are a bane of the society."
Speaking of his latest work "Malegalalli Madumagalu", a novel of epic
proportions, he recalls the mammoth task and laments that one third of
the book could not be dramatized. He worked for more than twelve hours
each day for over four months and with 50 young artistes from
different parts of the states apart from Rangayana artistes. What are
his future plans? "I wish to take plays to homes, where around 150
people can be accommodated and make intimate theatre a reality. I like
to make theatre an integral part of one's personal life. After all, we
need to blend both 'alaya' and 'bayalu', the concrete and the
abstract.
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