Mission Darling and the seek for saucy sirens of yore

From Mission Darling by Sharanya Ramprakash
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association

Everyone knows a sassy, sensible speaking, arduous to please, robust as nails woman — the favorite aunt, elder cousin or household pal who is much “too cool” to care about being politically appropriate. Properly, the theatre has had its fair proportion them and the Kannada play, Mission Darling throws them into the limelight as soon as once more.

The character of Khanavali Chenni, whose each utterance was loaded with intelligent innuendoes and double entendres, was in style in Kannada theatre. In Mission Darling, director and playwright Sharanya Ramprakash appears on the position of those girls within the face of unrelenting misogyny.

In accordance with Sharanya, the play got here out of a analysis venture for the India Basis for the Arts. “As modern-day girls, we nonetheless discover life suffocating; I puzzled how and what feisty personalities did to subvert the system in these days?” Mission Darling is about feminine sexuality on the crossroads of tradition and censorship, and the way these girls circumvented strictures.

From Mission Darling by Sharanya Ramprakash
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association

“I needed to hint my skilled ancestry as a theatre particular person and I toured Karnataka assembly vamps, villains and comedians of the stage. This play is constructed out of that analysis and consists of bytes, pictures and private tales of ladies of the stage earlier than me.”

Sharanya additionally explored what girls had been allowed to say (or not) on stage and their play on phrases, puns and hidden meanings. “The best way phrases had been used questions notions of vulgarity. Nonetheless, it may well’t be denied that through the years, the dialogues for characters resembling Khanavali Chenni have made a literary contribution to Kannada, although it usually isn’t acknowledged.”

In the course of the course of her analysis, Sharanya met with theatre artistes from Hubli, Dharwad, Ranibennhur, Gubbi, Tumkur, Mysore and Bengaluru. “The oldest was 88-year-old R Manjulamma from the Sri Nataka Mandali. That troupe comprised a bunch of ladies who essayed male roles, dressing up as males their complete lives. And as an organization, they delivered fairly a couple of hit productions.”

Yesteryear theatre artiste Satyavathi
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association

The plot of Mission Darling revolves round 5 modern-day stage actors’ bid to find Khanavali Chenni. “This iconic character is pleased with herself, shining exterior the dichotomy of society-approved, gender based mostly roles of spouse, sister, mom and daughter. She belongs solely to herself.”

It’s confrontational, Sharanya says. “Mission Darling particularly examines the feminine gaze on our our bodies and want. It is also comical as a result of the ladies we researched had a blast. They shied away from victimhood, gave nearly as good as they acquired, and had a grand time doing it. We completely liked the method of creating Mission Darling.”

The form of artistry Khanavali Chenni wielded, Sharanya says, positioned her physique on the heart of the sexuality debate. “She had an opinion about every little thing and used starvation as a metaphor for all types of appetites; she positioned divinity and deliberation in her physique. I used to be excited to find this character — she had a good time dwelling on this world as if it belonged to us girls, even when it was just for a second on stage.”

“If I had identified this was my skilled legacy, I’d have been a really totally different performer right this moment,” admits Sharanya.

The 90-minute Kannada play Mission Darling will see performances by Matangi Prasan, Shobhana Kumari, Shrunga BV, Shashank Rajashekar and Surabhi Vasisht.

Mission Darling shall be staged at Ranga Shankara on September 13 at 7.30pm. Tickets costing ₹200 accessible on Bookmyshow

Sharanya Ramprakash with yesteryear artiste Manjulamma
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association