Gods in Town
Once the beating heart of the theatre scene in Bangalore, Ravindra Kalakshetra has endlessly weathered the storm to stay relevant in an ever-changing cityscape. At this iconic theatre that has seen better days, ordinary people dress up as mythological characters to perform Nataka (plays), recreating stories from Hindu epics and mythology.
Drawing the fading stage curtain reveals characters bearing semblance to the heroes and villains from the great Sanskrit epics of ancient India. These characters are essayed by ordinary people with a penchant for the theatre, some even harbouring distant dreams of fame in vernacular cinema.
The transformation from man to god happens in the dimly lit and often urine-reeked backstage. Faces are painted in hues of blue and pink and curled moustaches and long beards are stuck on the faces using cheap glue. Shimmering costumes and faux jewellery complete the transformation. The gods and goddesses are now ready with blunt weapons to enthral an audience that's slowly reducing in numbers.
Despite the absence of adoring fans or selfie-seekers to boost their morale, these artists, most of them with no formal training in acting, put their best foot forward for the love for an art that's slowly losing its sheen. With barely any patrons and mostly free productions, how long before the curtain falls on an art form that's striving to coexist with multi-million dollar cinema productions?
