Neelam Mansingh Chowdhary has dedicated several decades of her life to the stage. Winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Padma Shri for her contribution to theatre, she is known for plays such as Kitchen Katha, The Suite, Yerma, Nagamandala, The Mad Woman of Chaillot And Female characters,

An alumnus of the National School of Drama, she trained under Ibrahim Alkazi in the early 70s, making her a peer of actors like Surekha Sikri, Uttara Baokar, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri. Neelam, whose heart was won by Manch, is one of the most powerful female directors. She comes to Bengaluru to direct Girish Karnad’s play, Hayavadan,

Although Hayavadan On the play, which has been staged in English, Hindi and Kannada by prestigious theater groups in Bengaluru, Neelam says her version of the play presents her perspective.Hayavadana Karnataka is a part of folklore and I thought it would be a shame not to show my perspective here. I also saw it as a challenge Hayavadana The place where the story was born, where it took its first breath and where people are familiar with the text.

This brought with it a certain degree of certainty, says Neelam. “I don’t have any stereotypical notions on how to Hayavadan Staging is required and this helped me stay away from formulaic expectations.

While Karnad wrote Hayavadana, it was Beevi Karanth who breathed her soul into it with music. Some songs like ‘elephant-faced hey rambha‘ And ‘Bandano Banda Sawara‘, became classics in the history of Kannada theatre. Neelam says that her version includes Karanth’s original music with some changes by Amod Bhatt.

“Amod has worked with Karanth for many years and is a repository of Karanth’s original compositions. We have included some interpolations and used some devices that were not part of Karanth’s original composition.”

Neelam says, local instruments were brought from Punjab. “Most of the musicians are from Chandigarh and Punjab. This is inevitable because art is not a fixed entity. It travels through time, the text has a certain migration. That’s when it becomes a classic.”

Neelam says that the combination of Karnad’s text and Karanth’s music leads to this. “Although the play was written in 1971, it is still current.” Neelam says the play has the potential for multiple interpretations. “There is no one way to look at it. “The play has the potential to reflect contemporary ideas and exchange with time.”

Training under Alkazi, says Neelam, created a strong foundation for her in theatre. “I worked with him for three years. He was a renaissance man and teacher that one can only dream about. He had a magical way of changing your life.”

Describing herself as not a very good student in NSD, Neelam says, “I was not familiar with Hindi or Punjabi because I had lived in England for years. I felt a disconnect with the language. What I did was to look at him as a teacher and director. I learned what intricate details he brought to the stage, what entrances and exits meant, and what rhythm and characterization meant on stage.”

Neelam says the most important thing she learned from Alkazi was the ethics of what it means to be in theatre. “That’s how you as a director create that invisible thread to keep the group together. These are just some of the intangible effects of working with Alkazi.

Neelam also worked with Karanth for 22 years. “He composed music for most of my plays and we worked together at Bharat Bhawan in Bhopal. After working with all these great personalities, I have only prospered.”

India celebrates diversity in art, says Neelam. “If we have English theater in cities, we also have Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi theaters flourishing. Amazing plays are being staged in different languages ​​without losing any particular language or form. We have theater for urban and rural Indians.

Neelam says that cross-fertilization and cross-pollination is happening continuously. “There’s always a conversation going on and that’s how you eliminate what’s not important and keep what is important.”

Bring in Hayavadan After the demise of Karanth and Karnad in Bengaluru, Neelam said, it is heartbreaking. “Coming here in his absence is a big loss emotionally. I present this play as a tribute to him. Karanth was like family while Karnad was a hero to me. I met him for the first time as a student in NSD. We were charmed by this young scholar who wrote Tughlaq Until then. There was an aura between both of them. I thank both of them for giving me the opportunity to meet and interact with them in my life and my journey in theatre.

Actors who take theater training at NSD and use it as a springboard to cinema do not incur Neelam’s wrath. “Training is training. Theater cannot provide livelihood. I’ve done theater for decades because I’m a university professor. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do theatre.”

After all, food has to be put on the table, comments Neelam. “If the artiste is married, there are more financial commitments. What an actor earns in a day’s shooting or doing a cameo on screen is more than what he earns in an entire month’s work on stage. This is the harsh reality of life.”

Neelam says that a trained actor raises his level in every role. “This can be seen in the work of Pankaj Tripathi, Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.”

Presented by Bhumija, Hayavadan It features music by an orchestra of wandering singers from Punjab, led by 86-year-old Harpal Singh. Deepan Sivaraman did the scenography, Gyandev Singh did the lighting design and Melody Dorcas did the costumes and props.

The cast on stage includes Ipshita Chakraborty Singh, Brinda Trivedi, Pallavi Jadhav, Ajit Singh Palawat, Ambika Kamal, Mahesh Saini, Chaman Bansal, Guru Bamrah and Punit Kumar Mishra.

Hayavadana will be staged from May 28 to 31 at 7.30 pm and June 1 and 2 at 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm at Ranga Shankara. Tickets on BookMyShow.