Ranga Shankara @ 20: Stage set for month-long play delights spanning 22 languages

Nestled in the bustling cityscape of JP Nagar in Bengaluru — Ranga Shankara — a cultural hub and one of the foremost theatre spaces in the country, is set to stage around 20 acclaimed plays to commemorate 20 years of its existence.

Staging 20 plays spanning 20 days from October 10 to November 10, Ranga Shankara will be brimming with a diverse array of theatrical performances, offering something for every theatre enthusiast from across the country.

Democratic space

Founded by renowned theatre and cine personality Arundhati Nag, Ranga Shankara, a state-of-the-art theatre space has had close to 7,500 shows in 36 languages with over 12 lakh people lining up as audience.

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“It is a dream come true,” says Arundhati Nag while speaking to The Federal about the theatre space.

When this multilingual stage and screen actress relocated to Bengaluru from Mumbai after her marriage to Kannada’s popular and most enterprising actor-director Shankar Nage, Arundhati Nag carried within her a deep longing to build a space with a voice similar to Mumbai’s popular Prithvi Theatre in Bengaluru. As she came across like-minded individuals, her long-cherished dream was realised in the form of Ranga Shankara in 2004.

Rangha Shankara is the result of Arundhati’s single-minded determination due to her deep love for theatre.

Remarkable journey

As Ranga Shankara celebrates its 20th anniversary, it reflects on a remarkable journey of nurturing and revolutionising contemporary theatre in India. Since its inception in 2004, this venue has become a beacon of artistic excellence and innovation, providing an affordable platform for diverse performances. Its unwavering dedication to showcasing both local and national talent, alongside its commitment to cultural enrichment through major festivals and events, has established Ranga Shankara as a cornerstone of Bengaluru’s vibrant theatre landscape.

This milestone will not only mark two decades of theatrical brilliance but also heralds a future of continued artistic exploration and community engagement. Ranga Shankara’s significance lies in its belief of creating a wonderfully open and democratic space. There is no VIP row and all tickets are priced the same. Theatre lovers are expected to come earlier than everyone else to get their best seats. Ranga Shankara hosts shows in all 22 languages of the Eighth Schedule — Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Maithili, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu — besides some foreign languages too.

Multilingual plays

The Hallmark of this month-long theatre festival is the staging of multilingual plays, with stress on Kannada plays. Plays from English, Hindi, Hindustani, Marathi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Lepcha, Bengali and Assamese will be staged for a month. Audiences can expect a rich blend of old and new, modern and classic, traditional and experimental works each weekend. With much delight, Ranga Shankar has included four Kannada groups — Benaka, Spandana, Kalagangothri and Samudaya — in the festival lineup, each celebrating 50 years of their artistic excellence.

Theatre enthusiasts and practitioners can experience the brilliance of this much-awaited theatre festival line up; showcasing the incredible talents of Alyque Padamsee, Manav Kaul, Ravindra Khare, Shabana Azmi, Lakshmana KP, Guru G Venu, Kapil Venu, Rajiv Krishnan, TM Krishnan, P Rajagopal, Abhishek Manumdarm Kumud Mishra Atul Kumar, Ratna Pathak Shah and Naseeruddin Shan.

A distinguished lineup of musicians including Sangeetha Katti, Vidushi Suma Sudhindra, Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Shadja Godkhindi, M D Pallavi and Bindu Maline will also be present to grace the festival with their enchanting melodies.

Vocalists Sangeetha Sivakumar and TM Krishna perform at Kattaikkuttu Sangam.

In addition to stage performances, the festival will include two seminars; discussing pressing concerns and the journey of the theatre community; as well as workshops aimed at community engagement; a parallel festival of dynamic platform performances; puppetry plays for adults and musical performances named ‘Mehfil’ in the café among other engaging events across the Ranga Shankara.

No theme is the theme

“Though theatre fests over the past 20 years had a theme, this year, we decided to celebrate the theatre festival without a theme just to celebrate the fact that Ranga Shankara and theatre have been engaged together for two decades without compromising on the artistic requirements,” says Arundhati Nag.

This edition opens with a very special production based on Karnataka Mrichchhakatika Prakaranam by Nanjangud Subbashastry. The play is directed by Chidambara Rao Jambe, former director Rangayana Mysuru.

The first edition of the Theatre Festival conducted by Ranga Shankara is still in the minds of connoisseurs of theatre. It was a 45-day long festival, as it was not only about Bengaluru, but Arundhati and her team wanted the world and India to know that they were invited to take part in the new beginning of a theatre experiment in Karnataka, which has a great tradition of both professional and amateur theatre.

Shankar Nag: Toshiro Mifune of India

Meanwhile, November is of much significance for Kannada cine-goers, especially ‘auto-rickshaw’ drivers, as this is the month of their beloved actor Shankar Nag, and Auto Raja (1982) starring Shankar Nag is their ‘cult film’.

Across Karnataka, one auto-rickshaw out of five has Shankar’s portrait. Nag holds the credit for acting in 15 films in 365 days. Every year, Shankar Nag’s fans celebrate his birth anniversary on November 9. Besides being a popular actor, Shankar Nag was a screenwriter, director and producer known for his work in Kannada films and television.

Popularly known as ‘Karate King’, Shankar Nag is still a popular cultural icon of Karnataka. Malgudi Days-tele-serial directed by him for Doordarshan, based on RK Narayan's works won him both name and fame and that resulted in catapulting him to the national entertainment arena. He is the recipient of two National Awards, four Karnataka State Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. He co-wrote 22nd June 1897 (1979), a National Award-winning Marathi film. He is the younger brother of multilingual actor Anant Nag.

After watching his classic film Ondanondu Kaladalli (1979), The New York Times film critic Vincent Canby observed, “Shankar had the force and humour of the younger Toshiro Mifune of ‘Seven Samurai’ directed by Akira Kurosawa. Shankar Nagarakatte aka Shankar Nag was a multifaceted personality, who lived his short life fully and intensely. He inspired generations of people with his talent, creativity and charisma. When Bengaluru Transport Corporation (BTS) was struggling on the roads, Shankar was meditating over Metro Trains in Bengaluru in early 80s. He transcended the boundaries of cinema. This versatile actor breathed his last when he was just 35 years old and had reached many heights and others dared to climb and proved beyond doubt that; he was larger than his life. On September 30, 1990, while heading to Belagavi for his dream project ‘Jokumaraswamy’ in his Fiat 118 NE, accompanied by his wife Arundhati Nag and daughter, his car collided with a lorry loaded with metal sheets had stopped on the incline Shankar left this mortal world and shocked the entire cultural spectrum of Karnataka.”

Theatre space named after Shankar Nag

After her marriage to Shankar Nag, Arundhati moved to Bengaluru, and both of them worked towards enriching theatre, besides acting in a few Kannada films. Both Shankar and Arundhati Nag carried within them a deep longing to build a space with a voice similar to Mumbai’s popular Prithvi Theatre in Bengaluru. After the demise of Shankar, Arundhati realised their dream with the support of like-minded individuals. When her dream took the form of theatre space in 2004, she named it after Shankar Nag. The presence of Shankar Nag is subtle as an etching on a glass panel is at the entrance of Ranga Shankara.

The theatre had no space

When Shankar and Arundhati settled in Bengaluru the only fully equipped theatre spaces available were Ravindra Kalakshetra and Chowdiah Memorial Hall. Back then, it would take a theatre group about three months to get a slot in both the auditoriums, as they used to be rented out for everything from dance, music and drama to political and government events.

It was a kind of suffocating atmosphere for both Shankar and Arundhati, who worked at Bombay Theatre. “Bombay already had the Prithvi Theatre. I had worked with Jennifer (wife of Shashi Kapoor), when it was conceived and built. We were familiar with a robust commercial theatre in Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi. This was when we thought of a venue that would be dedicated to theatre,” says Arundhati.

Rahul Kumar performing in Taking Sides.

But, according to writer and music composer SR Ramakrishna, who is also a cultural writer, “both Shankar and Arundhati explored spaces for staging plays in ‘Sandhya Chaya’ (a Marathi play) and ‘Nodi Swami Navirode Heege’— of Sanket — (a theatre group founded by Shankar, Arundhati and their friends in 1979) and the response was enthusiastic. Both Shankar and Arundhati were convinced that the Bengaluru audience was ready for new things. “At that time, I learnt that the city needed a theatre and theatre people needed a theatre,” she said.

Sanket and Ranga Shankara

When Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) earmarked a site for a theatre, and invited applications from the theatre trust, Sanket, which was transformed into a Trust in 1992 applied for a site to develop a theatre. The idea of a full-fledged venue for theatre emerged, after the death of Shankar. Once BDA allotted the site, the challenge was to raise funds to construct the theatre space. Arundhati went around seeking donations. Theatre groups supported her in this endeavour.

“It took seven years to raise funds and three years to develop the theatre space,” Arundhati recalls. “The then Chief Minister of Karnataka, SM Krishna, who is also an art enthusiast persuaded Jindal to provide cement for construction and his government released Rs 50 lakh in two instalments,” said Arundhati, who conceived Ranga Shankara as a public project for Bengaluru.

Finally, Ranga Shankar was ready to welcome the audience in 2004. In October 2004, Ranga Shankara had its inaugural theatre festival, which premiered Girish Karnad’s Odakalu Bimba. Recounting the experience, Arundhati said, “I could have easily staged Shankar’s old plays, but was determined to make a new start.” Odakalu Bimba saw more than 150 shows and translated both in English and Hindi. Shabhana Azmi essayed the protagonist role in its English version directed by Alique Padamsee and it was staged in London.

Affordability

“Ranga Shankara has a seating capacity of 320 persons. It is very rare for any seat going vacant. For all its innovative design and world-class stage services that allow innovation and theatrical experimentation, the money it charges in rent is low enough and lower than what the most modest school auditorium would charge. Similar is the pricing of tickets. It is to make it possible for the people from all income groups to watch good theatre,” notes Preethi Nagaraj, a theatre enthusiast and practitioner.

“Ranga Shankara has encouraged good theatre in Bengaluru for the past two decades. One thing that strikes is its rental rates. It is affordable and facilitates young theatre groups, which are keen on innovation. Though Bengaluru has always been keen on theatre, Ranga Shankara provided the right spark, the space and atmosphere,” observes MS Sathyu, a member of the panel of experts of Ranga Shankara.

Phalguni Rao performing in The Far Post.

Kunal Kapoor, who is successfully running the iconic Prithvi Theatre of Mumbai, is of the opinion that at a time India is starved of affordable practical and professionally managed venues Ranga Shankara provided the right answer. In fact, Ranga Shankara is modeled on Mumbai Prithvi Theatre.

What is in the bouquet of this edition?

Over the years, Ranga Shankara has showcased a variety of plays representing the best in contemporary theatre. For this edition, Ranga Shankara has invited some celebrated productions for an encore. Out of the 20 plays, seven have previously been performed at Ranga Shankara. We have included audience favourites by Kannada theatre groups celebrating 50th anniversaries, such as Mukhyamantri of Kalagangothri which has seen 700 shows since 1980, Hayavadana of Benaka (since 1972) and Karimayi by Spandana (since 1974).

“In addition, Ranga Shankara aims to enrich its urban audience by presenting a diverse array of performances including folk, traditional and classical art forms like Kudiyattam, Kattaikuttu and Yakshagana. The festival will also showcase the remarkable talent of some of India’s finest actors with solo performances. Ranga Shankara is also aimed at recognising and amplifying the energy of Bengaluru’s local theatre and its spirited evolution by curating performances of five Bengaluru theatre groups. The magic of the festival extends beyond the stage. As the day draws to a close, the audience can dive into the enchanting world of mehfil, an evening where music blends seamlessly. Adding to the festival’s charm RS Walks will offer behind-the-scenes tours of the theatre led by S Surendranath,” says organiser RS Sushma, offering a grand spectrum of the theatre festival, whose curtains are to go up tomorrow.