Crossing to Talikota: A parade of historical events

Arjun Sajnani’s production Crossing to Talikota was more show than substance

If Arjun Sajnani’s production of Girish Karnad’s last play, Crossing to Talikota [staged in Bengaluru recently], was more show than substance, it was due to the deficient script. Sajnani did his best, bringing to it his decades of experience and exceptional production values. He does not stint on sets or costumes, and his attention to detail extends to his supporting cast, so that there are no glaring weak links in his productions.

Karnad’s script concentrates on recording a historical watershed – the defeat and devastation of Vijayanagar – reducing the play to a series of episodes, absorbing enough, but resulting in a choppy action narrative. Focus was also dissipated with the many shifts of locations, though Sajnani handled these scene changes very well by using slide projections to conjure sumptuous interiors or bleak battlefield camps.

Karnad is fond of large historical canvases but, unlike Tughlaq for example, Talikota has no central character that engages us. A play’s dramatic tension usually stems from the crisis of the protagonist: the soul-searching of Thomas More, Beckett’s conflict with King Henry II, Oedipus helplessly ensnared in a fateful web … Talikota has no hubris, nor does it develop issues of moral import showing the tragic frailty of the human condition.

The several characters of almost equal importance gave no scope to the actors to flesh out their sketchy roles. Characters were faced with only seminal crises; actors had little to work on, without any meaningful introspection or dramatic conflict arising from difficult choices.

The personal and political dilemmas of ‘Aliya’ Ramaraya could have been the crux of the play, concentrating the audience’s sympathies. The lower-born son-in-law promoted by marriage, has the disparaging connotations of a second class citizen in traditional Hindu society. Ramaraya’s driving ambition to establish himself legitimately, to reassert his kalyana heritage, had the potential for gripping drama. Ashok Mandanna’s dry delivery and expression suited the bitterness of unfulfilled ambition. He was appropriately assertive as the de facto ruler of a glorious kingdom, retaining power by juggling various factions. The script suggests that Ramaraya’s sudden spells of giddiness had disturbing consequences, but the acting did not sufficiently manifest these attacks.

Maahir Mohiuddin as Adil Shah shifted convincingly between a farzan’s fond submission to Ramaraya, and duplicity as a key player in the Sultanate faction. Again, he was given but a sentence to express his anguish when forced to betray his word of honour given to Ramaraya.

Veena Sajnani always commends herself onstage, with clear delivery and appropriate feeling. She was convincing as the long-suffering wife of a lower caste husband. Here again was germinal theatrical friction: Satyabhama caught between devotion to her husband and loyalty to her father, whom Ramaraya reviles in moments of frustration.