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 Media
: Nigooda - A Play By Katte, April 2005 |
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If you are a San Francisco Bay Area Kannadiga, what would it take to entice you to
sacrifice a couple of hours of your weekend to go and watch a Kannada
play? What if someone told you that the play is a production by KATTE,
a very well known Kannada amateur theater group? What if they told you
that the play is based on Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap”, still alive
and well for audiences flocking to St. Martin’s theater in London for
nearly 50 years? In exactly these questions lies a lethal combination
of excitement and entrapment, pun intended! It is exactly the kind of stuff that will make you get off your couch, drop everything you are doing, grab your friends and family to go watch “Nigooda”. A highly anticipated suspense thriller, Nigooda enthralled the Bay area Kannada community with two shows on May 20 and 21, at the Anthony Soto (CET) theatre in San Jose. KATTE (endearingly referred to as Kannada Amateur Troupe for Theater Excellence, http://katte.niketana.com), chose for their third production, this play originally named “Namma Nimmolagobba” (one amongst us) by well known author and playwright Rajendra Karanth. Translating an English play, a murder-mystery by none other than the genius Agatha Christie, to an Indian language and Indian setting, can be quite intimidating. The play has to be convincing at multiple levels, from the “Indian”ness of the characters to the setting, with every twist and turn maintaining the mystery without ever giving out any clue in the dialogs or the behavior of the characters.  Anything
less would be a disgrace to Christie’s memory. From that perspective,
what Rajendra Karanth has done with the play goes well beyond just
translation of Christie’s play from English to Kannada. His mastery
over the construction of the plot, the mix of characters and the
measured delivery of dialogs deserve a lot of respect and admiration.
KATTE showed off Nigooda, a murder-mystery a la Christie, to audience who came expecting nothing short of a spectacular show. The play starts with a handful of characters walking into in a guest house in the middle of nowhere in a tiny village in Karnataka, the only connection to the closest civilization being 3 miles away. Soon the characters are trapped inside the dark, gloomy, guest house for a few days, thanks to a relentless downpour punctuated by heart thumping thunder and lightening. Here’s a glimpse into how the plot unravels slowly and steadily, grabbing the audience into its folds. First, the news of the discovery of a murdered female sets off a series of incidents, colored by the dubious past of Babanna and Gangamma, the mother and son duo that runs the guest house, the questionable intentions of Murali the freelance journalist, Mandanna the wannabe Agatha Christie, Harsha the college student with a penchant for all things considered unholy for his age, Kiran the paranoid friend of Harsha, Bhagirathi the disenchanted wife of Babanna. The plot thickens with the arrival of Kalinga Holla the small-time, know-it-all cop of a small village. After building up a cloud of nail-biting suspense, thick enough to warrant slicing with a knife, the play ends with a totally unexpected revelation. When the play ended to a standing ovation by the adoring audience, it was very evident that Director Ashok Kumar had earned yet another feather in his cap. “The play totally exceeded my expectations. I would have never guessed such a magnificent outcome from an amateur group”, said Kala Dutta, a software engineer with IBM. “I have seen many Kannada plays of very high quality from well known theater groups in India. Nigooda certainly earned my praise”, said Chadrashekhar Kakal, here on a visit from India. “The stage setting was very realistic and appropriate. We were very impressed with the sound effects and visual impacts created by the special lighting effects”, chimed in Roopa and Girish Desai, a young couple who had not seen any of KATTE’s plays before. Praveen and Anita Majigud, another young couple who were not familiar with KATTE, said “we loved the different dialects used in the play. The best part was that the suspense was maintained till the very end, with absolutely no clues as to how it would eventually end”.  Without exception, all these first-time KATTE
watchers had turned into KATTE worshippers after watching the play.
KATTE fans who had been treated to a previous hit production “Udbhava”
were just as in awe of what they had just witnessed. Shankar Muniyappa,
a software engineer and fan of Kannada plays, summed it up very
simply, saying “This is the kind of play I would be proud to bring my
family and friends to. This is a huge step for NRI groups trying to
make a mark in Kannada theater abroad”. One has to commend the fact that the play’s director Ashok Kumar, who also excelled in the role of small-time cop Kalinga Holla, has made some really bold strides towards stirring up the Bay area Kannada community’s interest in Kannada theater. Earning the respect of a community that is accustomed to enjoying the fruits of labor of dozens of highly talented writers, musicians, actors, singers and performers is no easy task. Trying to pull off a complex production like Nigooda is like a double edged sword and requires tremendous talent, confidence and the innate ability to get the best out every cast member and support crew. Ashok Kumar, the ever gracious creator of the group KATTE, deserves kudos for taking on incredible challenges and enriching the community with lasting memories through his productions. With Nigooda, Ashok once again demonstrated his ability as a director by successfully harvesting some of the best local talents. Alamelu Iyengar, a popular playwright and actress, was totally at ease with her part as Gangamma and pulled off a very natural, original performance.  Shesha Prasad Krishnapura (as Mandanna the Agatha
Christie wannabe), Ashok Handigol (as Murali the freelance
journalist), and Sukesh Belanje (as the dubious Babanna, the owner of
the guest house), all had substantial roles and were very effective in
building up the suspense. Anjan Srinivas (as Harsha the student trying
to hide his questionable activities) and Prashant Padubidri (as Kiran
the paranoid, troubled friend of Harsha) added equally well to the
suspense, in their roles as two misguided city slickers desperately
defending their every action. Sharmila Vidyadhara (as Bhagirathi the
disenchanted wife) was very convincing in her role of a distraught
wife of the guest house owner Babanna. Though a miniscule role of very
few words, Srivatsa Duglapura (as Maada the guest house help) was very
successful in jumpstarting the play and propelling it onto the track
of the mystery that was about to unfold. The play would not have been as effective, had it not been for the excellent lighting effects created by Jina Dattaraya and Vikram Holla. The hauntingly monotonous rain, every bolt of lightening, every creepy sound and every ear piercing scream added up to bring the suspense to its peak. The audio effects and the music in the background enhanced the play with Natraj Gujran on Keyboard with the help of Harsha Nagaraju with a laptop. The stage setting was very creative and realistic, thanks to Srivatsa Duglapura’s guidance, and teamwork by highly talented crew including Jina Dattaraya, Veena Shastry and Soujanya Keni, assisted by Ramesh Javagal, Monika Venkateshmurthy and Suresh Babu. Behind the scenes assistance was provided by a number of dedicated, talented enthusiasts, including makeup by Vijaya Hebbal.  The overall effect was a very well put together play, which will be
cherished by the Bay area Kannada community for a long time. The event
was managed by a huge group of KATTE and SEF volunteers under the
leadership of Tejaswi, Naren and Girish Muckai. As with all good
things which eventually come to an end, the play ended with an appeal
to the audience to keep the mysterious end a secret forever! KATTE’s efforts were supported by Kannada Koota of Northern California (www.kknc.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Kannada culture. All the proceeds are being donated to Sankara Eye Foundation (www.giftofvision.org), towards the Focus Karnataka project of building a eye hospital in Bhadravati-Shimoga, Karnataka. Sankara Eye Foundation is dedicated to help restore vision to the poor, visually impaired population of an estimated 11 million in India. ............................................................................... |
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