Death of a scholar | Kannada play ‘Rakta Vilapa’ is based on the 2015 assassination of researcher M.M. Kalburgi

Rakta Vilapa play explores scholar M.M. Kalburgi's assassination, and intellectual freedom in India, sparking reflection and grief among audiences.

On August 30, 2015, a young man shot 76-year-old Kannada scholar M.M. Kalburgi point-blank on the doorstep of his residence in Dharwad, Karnataka. His death was deeply mourned throughout the country and led to various acts of protest, including the returning of awards by artists and writers, and their resignation from cultural bodies such as the Sahitya Akademi. While the case is ‘before the law’, it has sparked various (conspiracy) theories and interpretations.

Over the past few months, an amateur theatre group called Samudaya from Raichur has been staging Vikram Visaji’s 2020 play Rakta Vilapa (Blood Lament), based on the events leading up to the assassination of Kalburgi. The play is not keen on finding the specifics of the murder or identifying the perpetrators. Instead, it offers a unique lens through which one can examine the life and times of Kalburgi — an authority on Lingayat Studies — and explore the broader themes surrounding intellectual freedom, misunderstanding and dogma.

The play, structured into four short scenes, intentionally avoids naming its characters. The only direct references to Kalburgi come from the author’s preface and subtle allusions within the play. This approach transforms the central event — the assassination — into a metaphor that provokes us to think about what it means to be a scholar or intellectual in 21st-century India.

Directed by Ninasam alumnus Praveen Reddy, it has garnered enthusiastic applause from theatregoers in small towns, and will be staged in Mysuru today, and in Bengaluru on October 9. The director, who also acts as the lead, recreates Kalburgi’s speech and mannerisms immaculately, evoking both reflection and a sense of grief. He says: “After reading the play, I reflected on how the anti-intellectual tendency is killing scholars such as Govind Pansare and Kalburgi. What kind of a civilisation are we?”

The play begins with a maniacal group singing a song about bloodshed, setting a grim tone. The first scene introduces a researcher (Kalburgi) whose thesis encounters opposition from a young man (the killer) — yet another fine performance by Sagar Itekar. This confrontation highlights the clash between scholarly perspectives and reactionary ideologies, especially those based on religion. By dedicating the play to the 12th-century vachanakaras (Kannada poets) and Mahmud Gawan, who was executed while serving the Bahmani sultanate, the playwright connects Kalburgi’s death with the cultural memory of violence in history.

Although the scenes seem designed to defend Kalburgi, the play allows other characters to emerge. The young man who kills the scholar is not portrayed as a villain; he is a confused youth, shaped by contemporary ideologies, and is as much a troubled soul as the researcher. “You just quarrelled over two words for the last 30 years…,” he says, referencing the debate over Veerashaiva versus Lingayat, which was central to Kalburgi’s later work.

It took the director four years to bring the play to the stage. Apart from the difficulty of working with amateurs, he had apprehensions about bringing to life a text full of ideas and dialogues and little spectacle or action. But to his surprise, the audience response has been beyond his expectations. The troupe is now excited about taking their work to bigger cities and towns and seeing how the audiences there react to it.