ABOUT THE PLAY

Agni Mattu Male (1994) was written by Girish Karnad in Kannada and later translated to Hindi as Agni Aur Barkha (1996) by Ram Gopal Bajaj and to English as The Fire and The Rain (1997) by Karnad himself. Among the most complex works of Karnad, it is based on the myth of Yavakri from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata, and is an innovative reimagining of the epic’s characters and events - a retelling of a lesser-known episode from the epic in which the Khandava forest is burned down by Agni, the fire god, with the help of Arjuna and Krishna to provide a sacrificial altar.

Karnad combines multiple myths such as these to explore contemporary social, cultural, political, and psychological issues. Symbolism and allegories add to the depth of its narrative, making it a thought-provoking yet visually stunning experience. Known for its play-within-the-play method to depict the deception of brothers against brothers and fratricide and its timeless themes, the play continues to remain a significant work in the field of Indian theater and has been performed in multiple languages and at numerous theatre festivals.

"You asked a question. It evoked an answer. Suppose, you repeated the same question—precisely

—in the same words. You would get the same answer. You ask again. Would that have helped?

Yes, certainly. Each time the question and the answer were repeated, a new nuance would have

arisen. Do you know, you could repeat a question and an answer without altering a syllable,

endlessly, and create a whole new universe of meanings, more acceptable to you.”

- Act 2, Agni Aur Barkha

ABOUT THE GROUP

ABHYAAS

Abhyaas was initiated with the sole purpose to keep on learning and researching not only the classics but also the contemporary text. Hence various plays were researched and explored. This helped the team to reach out to a varied number of theatre practitioners from around the country.

Plays by Vijay Tendulkar, Mohan Rakesh, Badal Sarkar, Manav Kaul, Abhishek Majumdar were performed/explored. What started as baby steps for young theatre practitioners, progressed into making a play and initiate the first of many productions for ‘Abhyaas’, ‘Aazam-Azeez’ play in 2022. The caretaker by Harold Pinter in 2023 and Agni aur Barkha by Girish Karnad in 2024.

PUNAHA

Punaha, a theatre company based in Udupi is dedicated to the art of storytelling through the transformative power of performance. 'Punaha', is derived from the Kannada, Hindi and Sanskrit word, meaning "repeat," or "to do it again". They are a bunch of young theatre enthusiasts involving both working professionals and academicians who love theatre, and the idea of repetition and riyaaz involved in it.

Director

Abhinav Grover

Cast

Abhinav Grover as Paravasu/Yavakri

Abhijeet Singh as Raja/Raibhya/Indra

Hrishabh Kanti as Kartanat/Andhak/Sangya

Mithil Raj Goswami as Aravasu

Nisha Dhar as Vishakha

Purva Pathak as Nittilai

Rakshit Yaduvanshi as Brahmarakshasa/Sabhasad/Irava

Varun Kapoor as Purohit/Bhadra/Vishvaroop

Lights - Trisha Shetty

Sound - Shanthanu Suvarna

Costumes, Make up & Set Design

Shruti Bangera

Assistant Director

Trisha Shetty

EVENT DETAILS

22 Nov, Friday

7:00 PM

Harkat Studios

2 hours and 20 minutes

16+