Wanapechi: A dramatic reimagining of nature’s struggle and heroism starring actor Rohini

Tamil playwright, activist and theater exponent Pralayan has a cast full of young and talented actors starring in his latest play. wanapechi (Jungle Ki Rani) is set to premiere at the Provoke Theater Festival on November 2. When asked what it’s like working with Gen Z, the founder of Chennai Kalai Kuzhu, a group he started 40 years ago, Pralayyan jokingly admitted that “boomer uncles” and those considered older don’t have the vocabulary that can connect with them on a deeper level. Yet, his belief in a fundamental truth sets him free. “I know they are attracted to the truth,” he says.

In his continued endeavor to convey this truth, something that sustained his theater troupe in the 1980s when sedition cases against theater artistes by the Tamil Nadu government were rife, he brings to the world his new play starring actor Rohini in the lead role.

wanapechi Tells the story of Thadgai from the Hindu epic Ramayana. In Valmiki’s version of the story, he is a monstrousA demon or a witch. He is murdered by Ram, the hero of this story. Yet, the Holocaust distorts this narrative. “The story is told from the lens of Thadagai. He is an allegory for nature. In the epic, he is ‘mutilated’ or ‘mutilated’ by Rama. This is unfair to a man who only wanted to protect the forest. The play, in an urban context, speaks about the continued degradation of nature. We need to act now as climate change is fast becoming an urgent global concern. It hopes to make the audience rethink our most basic questions – who we are and Where are we going,” he said. They say.

Team from Wanapechi Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

When asked why Indian theater artists and writers keep returning to mythological epics, Pralayan replied that these stories, which include some history and a heavy dose of myth, are often told only from the perspective of the conquerors. “In this play, we challenge that perspective. Indologists have repeatedly written that there are more than 300 versions of the Ramayana. We do not want to impose the same arbitrary values ​​that [in this case] Valmiki chose to say. We want to ask questions about it. Technically injustice was done to Thadagai. If he is not a hero then who is he,” he says. For him, his artistic choices inform his politics and vice versa. However, his creative expression always takes priority over politics, he says. “Definitely, they are one,” he says.

Pralayan cast actor Rohini, who has acted in countless Tamil films Magalir Mattam And marubadiumDue to their continued association since 2006, the two met at an event of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Association where Rohini was being felicitated. It was director Balu Mahendra who suggested him to meet him. “After some time, when I worked with actor Kamal Haasan as an assistant director and writer, especially during the VirumandiDid we start talking again? For many years now, she has been acting in plays in Chennai Kalai Kuzhu. She is now playing the lead role in this drama, he says.

Actress Rohini, who is busy practicing her lines with her colleagues at her rehearsal venue Mindscreen, says that across the world, cinema’s greatest actors have gone back to their dramatic roots and allowed the audience to understand the full extent of their acting potential. Yet, Tamil actors rarely take this path, confining themselves to celluloid. She says, “I have been trying to change this for myself since 2010 because I have noticed that some of my most favorite actors, including Naseeruddin Shah, are products of theatre. Through Thadgai, I want to tell people that nature is not meek. What gives us the right to master it is us. I don’t think she will wait to strike back.”

Art is perhaps the most effective way to communicate this fact, she says.

Catch Wanapechi at Provoke Theater Festival on 2nd November at The Music Academy, TTK Road. Gates open at 5pm and entry is free.