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Artistes enact a scene during rehearsals
\n | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement<\/p>\n
Real life takes centrestage in the play Ooru Ummadi Bathukulu to be staged in Hyderabad. Written by CS Rao, this social realistic play depicts the everyday struggles of villagers trapped in a feudal cycle of oppression and injustice.\u00a0 The play, set in the 1980s, is relevant even today as rural communities continue to be exploited and face issues, says director Rohit Raj Akula of Dharmi Theatre Academy.\u00a0 The play staged around eight times till now has been tweaked with a Telganana dialect to suit the contemporary audiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rohit Raj Akula
\n | Photo Credit:
\n Special Arrangement<\/p>\n
The one hour-thirty minute production\u00a0 with instrumental music in the background and nine artistes has a rural setting.\u00a0 Pedda dora and chinna dora, the local tyrant duo in the play do not like each other, abuse power and target the vulnerable. They abuse Sita, the educated wife of Gandayya, an innocent man who sharpens knives and weapons on a grindstone. The extreme exploitation and frustration erupts into a revolt as Gandayya kills the two. \u201cWriter CS Rao calls the tyrants as the two Ravanas of the village,\u201d recollects\u00a0 Rohit, who completes a decade in theatre in 2026.<\/p>\n
Rohit who has directed nine plays till now had in fact taken a break from theatre and has been concentrating on creating a script for films.\u00a0 He was recently approached by his teacher DSN Murthy,\u00a0 a retired professor in Theatre Arts at the Hyderabad Central University who wished to see a rooted story on stage. In fact, DSN Murthy had first adapted the story written by CS Rao to the stage and directed the play. Rohit took a big screen pause to pay a tribute to his teacher and also celebrate this milestone year with a thought-provoking play.\u00a0<\/p>\n