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About The Play
The first ever fourth corner production, Keetale (Mischief) is here. This might as well be used as a title for the actor Sihi Kahi Chandru, well known for his comic portrayals in Kannada Movies and better known for the several highly successful TV sitcom serials (for family viewing) such as Silli Lalli and Paapa Pandu.
The script of the play is woven around our lives. As William Shakespeare has rightly said "All the world is a stage and we are but actors". Life and drama are two essentials in all our day to day activities. The Play is a comical look at ourselves and the drama in our lives. We are all good actors each time we lie which most consider an art! we are enacting something which never has happened. The comical scenes from day to day are presented with Sihi Kahi Chandru's timing and special narration style. Chandru would use special instances from his life and slices of our lives will entertain the audience for about 90 minutes.
In the typical stand-up style, there would be audience invitations on stage with whom Chandru would discuss life and drama. There would be live music on stage which would be conducted by Chandru himself. Songs from movies, plays, samples of Harikatha etc. The 90 mts are designed to make every one present in Ranga Shankara laugh.
Directors Note
The concept of Stand Up Comedy is not new to Kannada Theater. This attempt is honestly trying to dwell with the standard format of a typical Stand Up Comedy. My idea of doing such a show is a long cherished dream. With Chandru Sir's competence and his everlasting energy with the way he understands the people in an auditorium enthused me to start this production. What's important for any kind of Comedy is the timing and all would agree with Chandru's sense of timing. It was a challenge for me to write a script to match his robust energy. I am very sure of this play to do full justice for my strong belief of old school of Theater that's to play for the audience! I am sure that all the audience in the auditorium would LOL (laugh out loud). Well hope you enjoy the show.
Sihi Kahi Chandru (Actor)
His specialty in comedy is known to all in theater fraternity. His current TV comedies Silli Lalli and Paapa Pandu have completed hundreds of shows and continue to boast a high TRP rating in ETV Kannada. His comedy roles in movies are cherished by one and all, specially the current generation of film goers.
He started his theater career when he was nine years old. He has acted in more than 170 Kannada and English plays. His professional acting career started in 1987 and has seen 227 movies, 64 TV serials. He has directed 50 serials and produced eight serials. He has the distinction of acting in the first ever tv serial in a regional language channel in India, that is "Sihi Kahi". He still is identified with this name and remembered for his great performance. The other not so famous first ever in movies was that he acted as hero in his first movie, doing double role (it was permanently canned for screening later!).
He now operates Final Cut, a video/film production house. His current ventures Papa Pandu (940 episodes) and Silli Lalli (525 episodes) are successfully running on ETV. Papa Pandu has set new records and standards in Kannada TV industry.
M S Narasimha Murthy (Script)
He began his career in writing with periodicals and collection works. He has published more than 30 of them and also two books "Swayam Vadhu" in 1974 and "Vargavari" in 1992 that have bagged Karnataka State Sahitya Academy awards. M S Narasimha Murthy is known to his fans and close circles as MSN. Samagra Hasaya, a collection of humorous work running into more than 1000 pages has been widely acclaimed.
His claim to fame was TV and scripts for TV. His charming scripts have given voice and color to many TV serials which has won our hearts. To name them - Pa Pa Pandu, Silli LAli, Crazy Colonel, Mr. Nirudyogi, Nagu Nagutha Nali, Counductor Kariyappa, Sabina, Uncle Illappa. He has written scripts for many movies like Ati Madhura Anuraga, Giddu Dada, Yamalokadalli Veerappan, Kattegalu sar Kattegalu etc.
With Keetale, he would be starting a new chapter in writing more humorous plays in the typical standup style. We should give all the credit of scripting to him and his creative genius.
Gajanana T Naik & Raghavendra (Music)
The show would be incomplete without music and they should also match the timing of the performer. The right finds were Gajanana T Naik and Raghavendra. Gajanana well known in Kannada theater circle as Gaja, a Ninasam graduate has more than 50 plays under his belt. His music is very well complemented with his voice and whoever has been to his plays always come out humming the tunes they heard inside the hall. He currently is associated with Samudaya group, but works with most of the groups in Bangalore and in Karnataka.
Raghavendra or Raghu has been the back bone of this exercise. With his abundant theatre experience he was an added advantage for such an impromptu act. He has worked with most of the Kannada theatre groups in Bangalore. He too hails from Samudaya and currently works with an educational institution. His percussion support for all the punches were as important as the laughs per minute of the audiences.
P D Sathish Chandra (Direction and Concept)
This is Sathish's first theater script venture in Kannada. He has written another one in English and most of his writing with respect to theater were restricted to reviews. Even today majority of the theater circle knows him as a critic for newspapers and with special reference to Times of India. He still continues to write for newspapers on theater and related issues.
Brief Note on Stand Ups
The Storytellers who used to narrate us the stories like in most of our cases the grand parents laid the foundation to stand ups. It's a good bet that the first joke was a combination of schadenfreude and toilet humor. The first inter-action was probably mimicry - them pointing at him and laughing, and him excitedly pointing back at them and imitating their laughter. Well there was an African pigmy tribe called Danga who performed in the Pharaoh’s court in ancient Egypt dating back to 2000 BC. We all know the importance of Vidooshaks in our kings and kingdoms and the Birbals and Tenali Ramans.
Also we could see many folk forms of India which is strikingly similar to stand ups. The one which strikes my mind is Harikatha (Story of Lord Hari) which uses music, dance and narration to audiences. The entire Dasa Sahitya (Dasa ) is derived from this particular style of musical narration. There are many more but less space to talk about Indian forms of Stand-ups.
America saw the boom of stand up comedy starting in the fifties in the period following II World War. That in a way led to the development of good quality microphones, and the advent of television contributed to more intimate and less robust approaches to live comedy. It was the American legal system with of course race relations and sexual humor that provided most of the stand up comedians their huge wits to these artists. They are the ones who made this form popular world wide. Some names which we could sight here from the hall of fame are: Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Jamie Foxx, Benny Hill, Drew Carey, Ray Romano, Tony Allen, Jerry Lewis & Dean Marrin, Woody Allen, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, Steve Allen, Tim Allen.
DH Review of Keetale - prakasamtrust.blogspot.com/2013/04/keetaledh.html
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