When an episode from the vishnu Purana came alive in the city

W hen a defiant young Prahlada, going against his father’s wishes, starts singing Narayana Mantram Simannarayana Mantram, the audience joins him enthusiastically. That probably is an apt indication of how much the play Bhakta Prahlada enacted at Public Gardens on Monday as part of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival, endeared itself to the gathering.
Performed by Surabhi Theatre, one of India’s oldest mobile theatre repertory groups, the 110-minute play starts off with the two gatekeepers of Vaikunta (Lord Vishnu’s abode), Jaya and Vijaya being cursed by rishis to be born as demons on earth for their irreverent behaviour.They are subsequently born as the asuras, Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu. While Hiranyaksha is killed by Lord Vishnu, the latter, thanks to a boon from Lord Brahma becomes the ‘Lord of the Three Worlds’. Ironically, though, his son Prahlada grows up as an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. An infuriated Hiranyakashipu tries in vain to change his son’s devotion and ultimately decides to have him killed, only to meet his own end at the hands of Lord Vishnu.
Apart from the performances, the highlights of the play were the special effects coupled with the seamless and instantaneous transition of the
setting from one episode to the other. For instance, pleased with the penance of Hiranyakashipu, Lord Brahma decides to grant him darshan and emerges from the earth. This was depicted realistically. The scenes where Prahlada is shown as an infant in the arms of his mother, and the very next minute as a toddler and then a young boy, is depicted in a seamless fashion. the timing was so quick and instantaneous that the viewer does not experience any discontinuity.
The lighting was also apt and perfectly described the moods of the characters on stage. For example, the face of Hiranyakashipu turns a dark red when he is angry. Hiranyaksha’s journey to the nether world and his encounter with the Varaha avatar of Lord Vishnu, makes use of various hues of blue, red and green to depict the moods.
On the whole, it was quite a delightful evening for the patrons and what was especially heartening to see was families turning up in large numbers with their kids in tow. The funny antics of the asuras when trying to kill young Prahlada, had the youngsters in peals of laughter. At the end of it all, there was a satisfied smile on the face of Nageswara Rao aka Surabhi Babji, the head of the troupe. A fifth-generation practitioner of this art form, Rao says, “Our family has been running Surabhi for eight generations now. As long as I’m heading the group, we’ll do everything possible to keep our art form alive and protect this tradition. We are a joint-family of 55, all devoted to our art.’ He further adds, “The government is quite supportive but we hope they give us some permanent land in the city that would help us set up a facility with a seating capacity of around 500. They are offering us land on the outskirts of the city but the problem is that patrons will not travel that far to watch a play.”