MALAVIKAGNIMITAM

King Agnimitra is at war with the neighbouring state Vidharbha. He has two wikfes, Dharini and Iravati. The beautiful Malavika a fugitive in war lives in cognitive as Dharini's maid in Agnimitra's Court.

Agnimiytra happens to see Malavika in a dance competition which was arranged by his friend Goutama (Vidooshaka).

Love grows between Agnimitra and Malavika. They find a rendezvous under an Asoka Tree. Informed by the King's commandoes, Dharini and Iravati catch the lovers together, Malavika is imprisoned.

Vidooshaka devices a scheme to free Malavika and she is freed.

Parivrajika who knows the secret about Malavika's latent power advises her to kick the dried Asoka tree. The tree immediately blossoms. This coincides with the victory of Agnimitra in the war with the Greeks. The play concludes with the King marrying Malavika.

UTTARA RAMA CHARITAM

About the Play : It was in the village Kavalam, which is Shri. Panikkar’s creative abode that the Hindi version of Bhavabhuti’s play Uttara Rama Charitam was first conceived by us. We sat down beside the beautiful Pampa river and started talking and creating… creating and talking…The Hindi text emerged as if it was already there in the Sanskrit text; lying hidden, waiting to come out in the light. Panikkar imagines a play in rhythm, which inter-relates the realm of the form and the content. In the process, he often would open before me some beautiful imagery and ask me to complete it in vachika. He would take flight from what I had written and then make my own text miraculous even to me.

The original play primarily works along the lines of three rasas: karuna, shringar and veera. Ofcourse it is known for its karuna but the other two rasas are also there, lying latent to sprout into meaningful dimensions in the production. We worked to bring out the beautiful triangle of these rasas and the poetic images assume creative sub-textual dimensions. It helped in bringing into open the conflict of being Rama. He is Rama that is why he will have to suffer, he is Rama that is why he will love, he is Rama that is why he will have to protect his people. But being all these he is endlessly out of equilibrium. That is why his stories are told. And being Sita is also to live in this triangle. She is Sita that is why she will love, she is Sita that is why she will have to suffer separation, she is Sita that is why she will have to face the loneliness in forest with courage.

We tried to go on playing with this subtle triangle throughout the play. It is through this play that all movements of the actors on the stage take on a grace that only someone like Panikkar is capable of bringing out in the performance.

We took the play as a musician takes a raag in Indian musical tradition. We got located in its essence and somewhere around it and redid the entire play, rewrote the entire play. It essentially remains what Bhavabhuti wrote and yet it has become our own creation. Such is the gift of the tradition. We are blessed.

Dedication : It was my dream to work with K N Panikkar. When our work began, there were many beautiful people around to inspire us; but we lost at least one such person on the way to this production: Panikkar’s son Harikrishnan. I dedicate my contribution to this production to his fond memory.