Report: Remembering Veenapani Festival (RVF), 2024

I reached Adishakti Theatre, Auroville, a day before the opening of the 10th Remembering Veenapani Festival (RVF). The buzz in the air was not metaphorical – walkie-talkie exchanges crackled across the three-and-a-half acre campus. Artistic displays of the theatre’s growth trajectory were up and whacky signboards to be used in art installations were being painted (courtesy Malavika PC, illustrator, actor and long time Adishakti associate). Under the peepal tree with a large wind-chime, food stalls that would offer bajjis, burgers, brownies, dosas and summer beverages like nannari juice or buttermilk were being set up.
I saw a home being readied for a celebration. For that is what Adishakti Theatre is: home to many, even those who do not live there. Well before the event, every year, actors, actor trainees and artistes whose work has been touched by Veenapani Chawla’s investigations into music, dance, martial arts and theatre, arrive here to support the running of this festival with no sponsors. Temperatures are usually soaring and the mosquitoes ready with a rousing welcome but the motivation to make the event a success supersedes other factors. Ferns, butterflies, fruit-laden trees and lush greenery on this once arid land become characters in the plot. Addas galore happen at the red-oxide painted roundtables, or on the stone benches around the dining area. The festival sports an elegant aesthetic minus printed handouts, flex banners or imposing images of a woman whose work is at the heart of it all. This year, the three full-length mirrors arranged under bamboo poles invited self-reflection (or selfies), while the flower-wrapped tree-swing gave adults and children a chance to feel light and playful.
At the inauguration on April 1, Vinay Kumar, artistic director, Adishakti, described the RVF as “a meeting point for artistes and theatre-makers, a space to dialogue and witness each other’s work.” Veteran actor Amol Palekar, who had directed Veenapani as a young actor (circa 1980) opened the festival while commending her “path-breaking efforts in theatre.” He reminisced that he had met her at a time when she wanted to explore acting and he wanted to get actors to “express less in words and more in physical movement.” At that point, Veenapani was on the cusp of a journey that would see her delving deeply into dance and martial art forms like Chhau and Kalaripayattu – a path that would lead to the creation of Adishakti Theatre. He pointed out that her work looked at “mythology from contemporary points of view.” She went beyond “the majority point of view or any one-sided narration, which we are forced to accept,” and this, he felt, was an invaluable part of her contribution. A range of flavours emerged from the shows presented at RVF 2024. It was not just the mix of art forms (music, dance and theatre) that enriched the festival. Artistes explored new creative domains – popular actor Namit Das spoke about how theatre brought music back into his life. Listening to Das and co-musician, Khwaab, perform soulfully composed Hindustani poetry was a treat.
Another rare aspect that came through, as compared to most arts festivals in the country, was the overarching feminine energy of this one. It was evident in everything from the choice of works presented (their makers, themes and treatments) to the running of the daily festival drill by a largely female staff, tech and admin team. Clearly, it was for a good reason that Vinay Kumar hailed Nimmy Raphel, ace theatre-maker and actor (also Managing Trustee, Adishakti) as “the engine of Adishakti” during the inauguration. Raphel also wrote He-Rose – Adishakti’s collaborative play with actors from ENSATT (Lyon, France) and directed by Vinay Kumar – that raised questions on how war could ever be justified. Rama Vaidyanathan’s Mad and Divine depicted Lal Ded and Janabai’s poetry through Bharatanatyam – a combination that worked better for the Lal Ded segment. The live music created and sung by Sudha Raghuraman for the show lingered a long while. Holding the stage solo for most part of the play, senior cine and stage actor Padmavati Rao evocatively played a lonely, grieving mother in Apne Ghar Jaise directed by Anmol Vellani.
Deepa D, winner of Adishakti’s Theatriculate Fellowship, brought together contemporary stories of women from different strata of society in 8, setting them against a traditional framework. The music created for this play by Bindhumalini Narayanswamy, Gurupriya Athreya, Charu Hariharan and Deepika Karthik Kumar was strikingly beautiful. The play that drew endless applause was Be-loved by Tamasha Theatre. Directed by Sapan Saran, its ensemble of actors and musicians had the audience in splits as they showcased a montage of queer love stories with pathos and humour. The Far Post, directed by Yuki Elias, was also very well-received – the subtitles to the Lepcha play unobtrusively supporting the audience as they travelled with its unique characters through mysterious terrain. The other highlights of the festival included two workshops – one on singing (and finding one’s pitch), facilitated by Ananya Gaur, and the other on didgeridoo making (and playing), facilitated by Brandon Colaco. The “gupshup” sessions, anchored with humour and insight by Shanthi Pillai, were my favourites as they opened informal spaces for interaction between artistes and audiences. They made the festival more wholesome besides providing a glimpse into the artistic processes and challenges faced by artistes and their teams.
Veenapani believed that “anything and everything is theatre.” Leaving Adishakti after the festival’s last show, I saw concrete evidence (quite literally) of this belief as Malavika PC transformed a very functional building – the pump-house, into a piece of theatre with her brushes, paints and imagination. The festival may have ended but the show would go on.
Charumathi Supraja is a writer, poet and journalist based in Bangalore.