What does the title of the blog mean to you? Do you think that the blog today refers to the 'dramebaazi' in Mumbai? Those "actors" may be from all over Maharashtra. They truly seem to believe, however, in the "amchi Mumbai" tag. Why, they have transformed Mumbai roads in to bathrooms; the Worli Sea Face in to an antics adda, et al. It seems they are misbehaving with women journalists!
No, no, no, I am not referring to such drama on the street. Not only the major Marathi YouTubers, but the regular AV media, too, is complaining about such 'nuisance value'.
Rather our blog today talks about Thiyam, an Assamese theater director, who combined Brecht's techniques with the 'bihu' moves. The 'bihu' motion is very fluid and soft. My M.A. students from Assam often used to perform this Assam special dance. Very lyrical it appeared.
The Brechtian techniques (which are a conscious questioning of the Aristotelian concepts such "mirror to reality" and "catharsis") mixed with the local Bihu mode is what Thiyam used to portray the ancient Mahabharata and indigenous myths as a comment on the contemporary realities.
No wonder, when this Padmashree awardee passed away recently, he was deeply mourned by all the theater buffs across the whole of India. But natural is such grief as the public sphere of the theater performance, by definition, a group activity, is currently getting more and more encroached upon by the very private mobile space flush with the 'intimate' OTT content!
In brief, thoughtful actions are noteworthy by absence these days. No wonder, thoughtless reactions, as witnessed on Mumbai roads, abound!
Pratima@ "Fools rush in", Alexander Pope pointed out in the eighteenth century, "where angels fear to tread!"
