Ranga Shankara of Bangalore brings Girish Karnad's latest play in Hindi, BIKHRE BIMB to Mumbai. Directed by Girish Karnad and K M Chaitanya and featuring Arundhati Nag as the feisty Kannada writer caught in her own tangled web, this play was hailed as one of the best productions in the country in 2005.

Produced in three languages so far (Kannada, English and Hindi) this play has seen forty nine shows to date. It has been invited to prestigious festivals in New Delhi (Legends of India and NSD's Theatre Utsav '06), Chennai (The Hindu's Metro Festival), and Bangalore (NSD's Satellite Festival).

The schedule at Mumbai:
Prithvi Theatre - Fri 8 Sep (9 PM), Sat 9 and Sun 10 Sep (6 PM and 9 PM) at Prithvi Theatre

Tickets Rs. 200/- Call 26149546

NCPA Experimental - Sun 17 Sep (3:30 PM and 6:30 PM)

Tickets Rs. 150/- Call 22833737/3838

(Shows at NCPA Experimental supported by JACIC)


Cast and Credits
Playwright: Girish Karnad
Translator: Padmavati Rao (from the Kannada original)
Directors: Girish Karnad and K M Chaitanya
Actor: Arundhati Nag
Lighting: Pradeep Belawadi
Production Control: Jagdish Malnad
Sets: Arun Sagar
Backstage: Selva, Lakshman and Mahesha
Publicity Design: Ray + Keshavan
Overall coordination: Gayathri Krishna

BIKHRE BIMB Ц the genesis
Girish Karnad's BIKHRE BIMB was born as "Odakalu Bimba" in Kannada and was written exclusively for Ranga Shankara's opening festival in October 2004. When the 35-day festival was designed to celebrate the birth of Ranga Shankara, it was decided that a new production of its nature was more appropriate for a later date.

Subsequently in January, Karnad also wrote the English version Ц "A Heap of Broken Images". Three unique things happened when Ranga Shankara produced the play in March 2005 Ц

. Girish Karnad directed his play for the first time (the last time Karnad directed a play was 40 years ago when he did Badal Sircar's EVAM INDRAJIT .

. Ranga Shankara produced its first play

. A play opened in two different languages

BIKHRE BIMB Ц A synopsis
This one-act, one-performer play tells the story of Manjula Nayak, a professor of English literature who has been an unsuccessful writer in Kannada. She finds international acclaim when she writes a novel in English, which becomes a bestseller.

The story starts with her introducing the audience to her novel in a TV studio, prior to a film on it is telecast. After she finishes her introduction, she is confronted by her own image on the screen which poses questions on betrayal of her language and identity when she chooses to write in English.

BIKHRE BIMB - Playwright's note
The twenty-first century is the age of the electronic image. From every corner of our world, electronic images fling themselves at us, entertaining, educating, enticing, offering us a virtual world of global dimensions to immerse ourselves in. The very notion of a private self seems threatened by this onslaught from outside. But suppose the most vociferous of these images were one's own?

Manjula Nayak is a not very successful Kannada short-story writerЕ. Suddenly she becomes wealthy and internationally famous by writing a best-seller in English. The question haunting Manjula is whether in thus opting for the global audience she has betrayed her own language and identity. A little-known face in Karnataka, she has now acquired an international image. And inherited problems of loyalty and betrayal.

And, without warning, it's her own image that decides to play confessor, psychologist and inquisitor.

"Е.for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelterЕ."

T.S.Eliot
The Waste Land