Madras Players, one of the oldest and most revered theatre groups of Chennai staged “Karna” last week. The players are experimenting with various theatre forms and for “Karna” they fused theatre with dance and music. Music comprised of classical carnatic and local folk. Dance was primarily Bharatnatyam customized for the play.
It was a different experience altogether, with all these extra art elements thrown in. There was lesser theatre on stage and that saddened me a bit.
Karma, an epic character in itself, intrigues me. Not many characters in the epic Mahabharata has to go through the motions which Karna has to and in the end too he pays the price with his life. In spite of possessing all the powers and the skills of a warrior prince, he remains banished on the sidelines. He is abandoned by his mother right at the time when he enters this world and curiously, she doesn’t decide to reveal the truth until the day she knows that lives of her other 5 sons are in danger. He is cursed by his own teacher for not having revealed his caste. He is abhorred and ridiculed for being from a lower caste whenever he tries to show his prowess in war. And in the end too, he doesn’t get a level playing field in the final epic war being stripped off his armor which was invincible. He is killed while trying to pull out his chariot from a pothole.
There are questions galore coming to think of this character but the most important ones for me are
- Is good or dharma a captive of a select few? A group of guys decide that something is right or wrong and it becomes binding on others to follow.
- How prudent or decisive we are in deciding between the good and bad? Often, our actions are greyer than black or white. So, does that make us good or bad?
- Importantly, Karna dies for following his set of truths and ideals. How many of us would be willing to do that, to die for what we stand for?
It was a different experience altogether, with all these extra art elements thrown in. There was lesser theatre on stage and that saddened me a bit.
Karma, an epic character in itself, intrigues me. Not many characters in the epic Mahabharata has to go through the motions which Karna has to and in the end too he pays the price with his life. In spite of possessing all the powers and the skills of a warrior prince, he remains banished on the sidelines. He is abandoned by his mother right at the time when he enters this world and curiously, she doesn’t decide to reveal the truth until the day she knows that lives of her other 5 sons are in danger. He is cursed by his own teacher for not having revealed his caste. He is abhorred and ridiculed for being from a lower caste whenever he tries to show his prowess in war. And in the end too, he doesn’t get a level playing field in the final epic war being stripped off his armor which was invincible. He is killed while trying to pull out his chariot from a pothole.
There are questions galore coming to think of this character but the most important ones for me are
- Is good or dharma a captive of a select few? A group of guys decide that something is right or wrong and it becomes binding on others to follow.
- How prudent or decisive we are in deciding between the good and bad? Often, our actions are greyer than black or white. So, does that make us good or bad?
- Importantly, Karna dies for following his set of truths and ideals. How many of us would be willing to do that, to die for what we stand for?
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