Khairlanji : Episode Two is a product of good research showcased in cities like Pune, Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Goa, Belgaum. Do massacres and pogroms teach us anything? Do they scratch us to probe history better? Is history written correctly? On 29 September 2006, four members of the Bhotmange family belonging to a Scheduled caste were murdered in a small village called Khairlanji in Maharashtra. The play takes this in the context.
Some of these questions may be answered or maybe not. But, the play certainly strikes root at the psychosis of the country. Lynching and massacres are always a result of something unfulfilled [our views, not necessarily of the director.]
Khairlanji: Episode Two is a piece of brilliant emoting and simple narration in Marathi. Some questions about play-making also arise. The structure, narration? Ho well are theatre artists playing with these. Quite an amalgam of content, Khairlanji: Episode Two is a must watch.
Another work of the director is a sci-fi solo Skywalker. Mr. Ingle is also reading a play " Underground" by Haruki Murakami.
The lone survivor of the massacre: Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange
Some characters which Mr. Ingle plays are Sagar Morey, friend, acting teacher, Sagar's uncle and Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange. Some more details are: docudrama, minimalist set, hyper-realistic acting style, language is Marathi-English.
" KHAIRLANJI: EPISODE TWO is devised in the form of audio-video docu drama. Scenes in the play are directed such that the unauthentic "clarity and loudness" of the theatre is reduced. We tried to control the actor's ability to do the scenes more energetically, to maintain the ongoing drama. The setup for the play is surreal. The propagation of the story is very fast paced. The end of the drama can be made into a summary and open-ended. Treatment for the story is episodic in nature so that it must provoke the idea about what would happen in episode three."
DIRECTOR, WRITER, PERFORMER
Sumedhkumar Ingle is an electronic Engineer from MIT, Pune. He has been working in Pune Theatre Circuit for the last five years. He has worked on more than ten theatre productions mostly doing acting and direction. His stories, columns, articles, and poems are published in various newspapers, magazines. His main interest is to bring hyper-realism in the acting styles in Indian classical and modern theatre.
Artist: Sumedhkumar Ingle
Writer, Director: Sumedhkumar Ingle
Light Design: Akshay Harsule
Sound and Music: Rupesh Ahire
Set Design: Vaaman Vasisth, Suved Kulkarni
Where: Bharat Natya Mandir, Sadashiv Peth
When: July 21
Time: 9:00 pm
Tickets: Phonebooking [9422462229] and at venue