Formed in 1985 by alumni of the Ninasam Theatre Institute at Hegoddu village near Sagar in Karnataka, Tirugata is a travelling theatre repertory that takes contemporary theatre to small towns and villages in different regions. It has done 5,000 shows over 1,500 locations, and is still travelling.
Tirugata inspired Bengaluru-based filmmaker Gautam Sonti to think of a documentary, titled Players. He reached out to filmmaker Uma Magal, who was involved with theatre since her college days. Now, for the first time in Mumbai, the 72-minute film will be screened at Bhavan’s College, Andheri, on October 27. This will be followed by a question-answer session with Sonti, Magal and actor-writer Atul Tiwari. The event is being presented by the Brief Encounters Film Club.
The film has earlier been screened at the Kochi Biennale and on the NDTV network. Sonti says the idea germinated when he met Ninasam director K.V. Akshara in 2010. He recalls, “He told me that Tirugata was in its 25th year, and a film would be ideal. He said they didn’t have much money but could arrange for my transport and stay in different places. The limited budget made it impossible to hire camera people or editors. Since I do my own camerawork and Uma does her own edits, it seemed like a perfect fit.”
Both Sonti and Magal have done much-acclaimed projects. Along with Usha Rao, Sonti has directed the documentary Our Metropolis, focusing on Bengaluru from 2008 to 2013 when the Metro was built and swanky malls mushroomed. Magal has directed Other Kohinoors: The Rocks Of Hyderabad, which focuses on the protection of the city’s rocks and the effect of rapid modernisation on the habitats they support.
In Players, the emphasis is on showcasing Tirugata alongside the personal stories of four lead actors, based on the repertory’s work in its 25th year (2010). Thus, rehearsals and performances of two plays staged that year were filmed.
These were Vennisina Vyapara (William Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice), directed by Akshara and Aakash Beri, the Kannada translation of Piyush Mishra’s Gagan Damama Bajyo, based on the life of revolutionary leader Bhagat Singh and directed by Sanjay Upadhyay. Both were performed in Kannada, though the songs in Aakash Beri were sung in the original Hindi.
Magal first heard of Tirugata from her professor in Hyderabad, who had helped the repertory stage plays there. She says, “Tirugata differs in that the plays, actors and directors change from year to year. The choice of plays each year is partly influenced by the actor pool, the relevance of the plays to the current socio-cultural situation and the ease with which they would fit into the Tirugata itinerary.”
Tirugata productions are designed keeping in mind the spaces in which they will be performed. Two or three plays are performed each year. The repertoire includes Greek classics, Shakespeare, translations of Sanskrit plays, contemporary works translated from English and other languages, and the works of Kannada writers. “The performances range from conventional proscenium theatre to experimental. Karnataka has a long and rich tradition of folk and classical theatre. Tirugata sometimes borrows elements from these forms, but its aesthetic tends to be distinctly modern,” says Sonti.
The four characters in Players have their own stories. Sitara uses the filming as an opportunity to confront her aunt, who became her foster parent after her mother died. Yatish persuades his father, a police officer, to let him continue with his acting career. Gopi tries to make his mother see value in what he was doing and to stop worrying that he would end up like his father, an actor who died in unfortunate circumstances. Prashanth belongs to the Siddhi community, which has its roots in Africa. His mother Kusuma acted in a Tirugata play earlier.
The filmmakers have also covered the journey on the Tirugata bus. They visited the four protagonists in their hometowns and filmed their interactions with family members. The film talks of the intense pressure these actors feel in finding their feet and discovering their own talents and limitations.
Sonti says the members of Tirugata are actors, musicians, make-up artists, stage hands and electricians, all rolled into one. “The experience of travelling and performing with Tirugata is exhilarating, but exhausting. It is quite different from being an actor who performs mainly in spaces such as Prithvi (Mumbai) or Rangashankara (Bengaluru), though Tirugata stops by at both these stages on its journey,” he says. Hailing their rigour and devotion, Magal describes Ninasam as a nugget of gold in Indian theatre. Both directors plan more screenings of Players to spread the message.
