"Raavadhana" Concept Note

The Story of Raavadhana

All of us are from the school of thought which clearly describes and defines good and bad.

Have we ever thought about the bad that is intrinsic to what we feel is good? Or have we ever felt the good that is a part of what we strongly consider bad? Confused? Disturbed? Raavadhana intends to give this feeling with each of the concepts that are discussed all along the play. The title might sound like a commercial gimmick and for most it might just take their mind to Maniratnam or SRK but this is not even close to any of those.

A concept which is unique to itself and which truly challenges the capability of the creators, actors and the audiences is Raavadhana. So what does it mean? What is the title all about?

Raavadhana – Raavana + Duryodhana

Direction, Concept, Script & Ideation: P D Sathish Chandra

Directors Note

In 1996 after Ayodhya incident I took a lot of interest in the proposals made to the Hindus all over the country over whether there was a need for what happened.  I too was confused and had no Idea of which side to support or just to let it go.  It was in 1999 when I took a stand about the incident and started writing a play called "In Conversation", an imaginary situation where Sita and Draupadi meet, sit and do some husband bashing.  But due to the delicacy of the situation at that time I was advised from my peers and seniors not to venture into writing or directing the play.  The same play has now taken form of Raavadhana, where the epic villains battle it out with the audiences and question them about the definition of rights and wrongs.

What I have noted largely in the past five years is that there is a fixed set of audiences for both Kannada & English theatre productions. Wherever there is a production we have the same set of audiences watching the play at different venues and more than 70% of the audience is repeated. This is not an encouraging development for healthy theatre, as we are not adding new audiences. This also stands out as the main difference between theatre in Bangalore and in other theatre-rich cities. As an old school theatre enthusiast, just mentioning or discussing this point was not enough for me. I felt a need and desire to do something about bringing back the masses into theatre. I was once advised by an avid theater lover who quoted "other large theatre groups are staging the same old Shakespeare, Karnad, Karanth and the likes. Why cant anyone or even you for that matter bring in a change??"  My discussions with various theatre groups and eminent personalities led me to figure out a way for myself, so started Pra.Ka.Sam & my productions to be staged at KH Kala Soudha & around the state.

P D Sathish Chandra