Director Kanupriya Pandit views theatre as a tool for generating awareness about social causes. Her play Dharaa ki Kahani communicates the need to go green through music. The play will be presented at the 13th edition of Jashne Bachpan, the children’s theatre festival at NSD that kicks off on Monday. By Saritha Saraswathy Balan
We have heard much about environmental conservation and protecting mother earth but music has been seldom used to spread the message. Kanupriya Pandit and Maneesh Verma, theatre directors from Mumbai, have done the rare job. And their efforts with NSD graduate and lyricist Sushil Bonthiyal will open the 13th edition of Jashne Bachpan.
About using songs as a communication tool in tandem with dialogues, Kanupriya said that it would be a more effective and entertaining way of getting through to kids in a digital society, flooded by images. “Some people use puppet or muppet as tools of communication in children’s play. We have used music instead. Sushil has a deep understanding of music, especially compositions meant for children. I do not actually know the ragas used because as a children’s theatre practitioner, the soul of the music is important to me which Sushil successfully rendered. It is a play meant for the mainstream audience as well who understand issues in a humorous way,” she says.
Dharaa Ki Kahani, a play produced by Verma’s theatre group Actors’ Cult in collaboration with Kanu Priya’s Killol Kala Akademy, both based in Mumbai, tells us to stop wasting water or electricity. The play advises children to not forget to turn off the tap or switch. It begins with an interesting personification of inanimate conveniences in the house. The tap, bulb, fan, dustbin and regular household items decide to revolt against their misuse by humans and choose to turn their lives topsy-turvy.
“Though the play revolves around children as a target audience, a message is being passed on to the elders. When your child asks you to turn off the switch or the fan, you will not be able to ignore it. Making children aware is the best way to make the elders aware about the need to protect the environment,” says Kanupriya. And Dharaa Ki Kahani is heading on the right path in that sense. The play has been presented around 30 times at various venues of Mumbai, most being gatherings by charitable societies, NGOs and schools. “The response has been energising as well. Children started to ask their parents not to misuse natural resources,” she says.
“If we can ignite the passion for performance and creative arts in children, we will succeed in shaping a generation that is wiser and open-minded, who can reach the stars, and face challenges with a smile,” she believes.
Kanupriya has a bigger perspective about theatre and says that it is not just an art form but a carrier of social issues. “There is a maid in the play coming from a village, who turns on the light very often. Then the elder member of the family, a grandfather, asks her how many times in a day she gets electricity in her village. Through this, we also try to imbibe good habits among lesser educated people,” says the director.
The grandfather, noticing the habit of not using water and electricity with care, tries to convince other members about the importance of it, but in vain. Finally, the household devices take up the matter in their own hands and decide to revolt. The tap turns off, the bulb stops working, the fan stops spinning while the dustbin seals its lid, finally forcing the family members to realise their worth and take care of their immediate environment.