Bangalore: CR — ‘Tughlaq’ — Simha avarige preethyaadarapoorvaka — Girish, 30/5/1972
Noted theatre artiste, film actor and director CR Simha proudly shows off his autographed copy of the second edition of Girish Karnad’s play Tughlaq, presented to him by the playwright in 1972. “What bigger compliment do you need for playing the role of Tughlaq for over 30 years, across Karnataka and India ?’’ he asks.
Girish Karnad penned Tughlaq in 1964, considered a masterpiece in Kannada literature. The story gives a fresh perspective into the life of 14th-century ruler Muhammad bin Tughlaq, who was known for his wayward reign in India. Translated into many languages, the play saw many shows all over India, but Simha is considered its promoter as he was involved as both director and protagonist right from 1972, when he formed the theatre group called Nataranga. “In fact, it was first directed by Prof BC (B Chandrashekhar ) in 1969 in Ravindra Kalakshetra. I played the role of Tughlaq. It ran to full house for three shows, which is even today considered a major achievement for Kannada amateur theatre. After three shows, it stopped, because the expenses were high, as the play had 35-40 characters. At that time, a play usually had 5-10 characters.’’
Simha and his friends Lokesh, Kappanna and C Ashwath came together and decided to stage Tughlaq again. “We formed a group called Nataranga and staged the play with a new team. I played the role of Tughlaq, while Lokesh played Aziz, Upasane Seetharam was Barani andCAshwath gave background music. We created a new design for the stage and the play, with a duration of 2 hrs 45 minutes, became a big hit. We spent nearly Rs 35,000. Then on, we never looked back, and staged nearly 150 shows all over Karnataka, in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad till 1996. We finally gave up count of the number of shows.’’
The play became so popular that even if Nataranga staged a new play, people asked for Tughlaq. Simha describes the play as one of the best written in modern India. “It’s because of the way Karnad has treated the times of Tughlaq.Itisn’tonly about history but also human and political conflicts. It’s a huge canvas with depth, and can be compared to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello.’
