To catch a performance in Mumbai of Dashavatar is a very rare opportunity. Dashavatar Hitvardhak Natya Sanstha on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the organisation staged the mythological story of BHAKT PUNDALIK (at Damodar Hall, Central Mumbai). Dashavatar - one of the folk theatre forms of Konkan - that begin after the harvest festival and are staged in temple premises, angan (courtyards), maidans and community spaces in major localities like Ratnagiri, Sawantwadi, Kudal, Malvan, Vengurla, Kankavli regions of Maharashtra and Pernem, Bardez, Bicholim regions of Goa. The traditional Dashavatar performance begins late at night when the people of villages have completed their chores and are free to immerse in a story from myths and folklore. The performance begins at midnight and carries on till daybreak. Dashavatar is a popular form of theatre in Konkan with a history of eight hundred years, sharing many similarities with Yakshagana and yet being different at the same time.
Mumbai is home to the mill workers. By the 1920's a large scale of migrants from Konkan regions had settled in Bombay and with them, they brought their cultural ethos and forms of living. It was then that the chawl theatre sprung up often run by women bringing stories to the stage without any professional help. Similarly, Dashavatar, Naman, Bharud and other such folk forms with these distinct characters entered the city. Now Mumbai has no functioning mills and no mill workers, the second and third generation of mill workers dispersed in the city trying to make meaning of their existence continued going back to their roots in Konkan during all the important festivals like Ganesha, Shimga, Sapta-Utsav, Tulsi Vivah, etc. It is around these festivals that the Konkan folk theatre grew and spread across villages. One of the forms is Dashavatar which portrays the ten incarnations of Vishnu and tales from Puranas. Usually performed without any technical props only with the help of elaborate make-up and bright dazzling costumes accompanied by three musical instruments: a paddle harmonium, the mridanga and the Zanj/tal (cymbals) is the traditional format of Dashavatar. The artist who put up this play worked in the daytime with their daily jobs as factory workers, servicemen, etc. In the evening they gather to put on a play without a script relying on puranic tales. Therefore, the performance that emerges involves improvisation, singing more than dialogues, and is more on the lines of devised theatre. Dashavatar Hitvardhak Natya Sanstha brought a group of selected Dashvatar artists who are scattered in Mumbai and go on living their daily lives as workers. Through rigorous evening rehearsals, BHAKT PUNDALIK was put on the stage for modern audiences still relying heavily on non-technical usage. The mics used were not good enough to project the depth, clarity, and sweetness of the voices of the actors. The lights used were hardly any except for general lights and one amber spot. Staged on a backdrop of a banner, the form which has traditionally emerged not for proscenium theatres cannot use the technology of such spaces at its best. And despite all these technical difficulties, BHAKT PUNDALIK is an unforgettable experience. The actors worked out their way with the limited sound and made themselves heard. The play ran for about 3 and a half hours with an interval. Keeping the traditional Dashavatar format, the poorva-ranga (the initial session) is a precursor performance that depicts the story of the killing of an asur. With BHAKT PUNDALIK a 100-minute poorva-ranga of the Dindikasura story brings to stage a fascinatingly dressed Dindikasur (Sushil Ghatkar) who is the ruler of the Dindikar forest and his encounter with Rukmini (Bablu Gaurav) who is dismayed with Krishna. Krishna (Prathamesh Mestry) at the advice of Narada (Santosh Mestry) sends his Vahan (vehicle) Garuda(Arjun Gawde), and Hanuman (Prakash Labde) as well, to protect their mother Rukmini if any calamity arises. Smitten by the beauty of Rukmini who is crossing the forest, Dindikasur desires to make her his wife. This is how Garuda, followed by Hanuman, followed by Krishna himself kills Dindikasura in the story of the first half of BHAKT PUNDALIK. The poorva-ranga largely uses songs sung live with rhythmic dialogues to stitch the story. A smiling Krishna, a clandestine Dindirasura, a silken voice Narada, a sharp Rukmini, an animated Garuda, a meditative Kukut Rishi (Deepak Parab)and a mellowed but wise Hanuman take the audience on a roller coaster ride with their act. Each of them pulling their part to the best is the strength of BHAKT PUNDALIK's poorva-ranga.
The Uttar-ranga which follows the first act is also called akhyan and is part of Dashavatar which deals with the central theme of the play. In this case, BHAKT PUNDALIK's story was depicted as him (Bunty Kadam) being addicted to alcohol and spending most of his time at the brothel, ignoring his wife and ageing parents. The Uttar-ranga runs for about 80 odd minutes portraying the plight of crumbling parents under the burden of a son and daughter-in-law. The play in the later half in the Brechtian sense asks us many questions about poverty, the decaying society, dying family values, and the place of money in Kaliyuga/ modern times. In one of the most powerful scenes of the play, the ageing couple is given begging bowls and asked to beg to make money for their pilgrimage to Kashi. The couple is pushed from the stage into the audience begging for money. The audience is shock-stricken by this dramatic, yet so real scene. The Uttar-ranga of BHAKT PUNDALIK relies on dialogue usage, unlike songs of the poorva-ranga. BHAKT PUNDALIK, in the second half, recounts the journey of a man who has lost himself and cut himself off from societal ties, who grows to become a man who finds himself through the service of ageing parents. The second half is powerful in its storytelling reminding us of Leo Tolstoy's stories wherever the social is concerned. BHAKT PUNDALIK, for its make-up, costumes and performance is an experience of a rare kind that requires sympathetic viewing.
Dr. Omkar Bhatkar is a Sociologist and Playwright. He has been teaching Film Theory and Aesthetics and involved in theatre-making, poetry, and cinema for a decade now. He runs the eclectic St. Andrew's Centre for Philosophy and Performing Arts and is the Artistic Director of Metamorphosis Theatre and Films.
