Unravelling karna's state of mind

The Puducherry-based theatre company, Indianostrum Theatre, will be staging their acclaimed play Kunti-Karna in the city. The one-hour Tamil play is adapted from the texts of Rabindranath Tagore and Jean-Claude Carrière. Koumarane Valavane, the founder of Indianostrum Theatre, opens up about the reason for adapting Karna’s story as a play. 

“I wanted to tell the story of an abandoned child and that’s how I zeroed in on the story of Karna, from Mahabharata. I was so intrigued by Karna’s tale, who was disowned by his own mother. Rather than focussing on the great warrior’s legendary generosity, which is often highlighted, the play delves deep into his solitude, his real suffering. The play travels through the pivotal episodes of Karna’s life, exploring the narrative of his birth and death. We also unravel Karna’s state of mind as a child, abandoned by his mother, Kunti.” 

Kunti-Karna received great appreciation at the recently concluded Theatre Olympics in New Delhi and was staged in various theatre festivals across the world. Koumarane, who doubles up as Parasurama character, wrote the play in 2007, while he was working with the children of SOS Children’s Village, a children’s shelter in Chennai. 

“This created a huge impact on me — I developed a different version of Karna after interacting with the children. The experience, raised an essential question — where lies the fundamental tragedy of his life? I tried to address this question through the performance, which is treated on the lines of a Greek tragedy. 

Also, I was inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s poem with the same title and the French translation of The Mahabharata by Jean-Claude Carriere,” he explains. 

The five-actor play uses minimal set design and dialogue and relies on physical movement to express the character’s internal struggle. Vasanth Selvam, who plays the central character Karna, is a resident artist of Indianostrum. 

“It is not just the dialogues that give structure to the dramaturgy but also the use of elements like Kalari, Silambam and Mallar Kambam, an ancient form of gymnastics. Actor Mani Bharathi, who portrays Arjuna’s character, is a Mallar Kambam national champion. He also helped us master the martial arts. The highlight of the play is the meeting between the mother (Kunti, played by Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and Karna (played by me),” says Vasanth. 

Koumarane set up Indianostrum Theatre in 1997, to enable artistes to explore Indian folk forms. 

“Our core aim is to expand the role of modern theatre by developing new modern texts, finding the specificities of Indian modern theatre, exploring its relationships with traditional forms and transcending political, social and historical divides,” he states as a parting note.