Telugu touch to Manto’s voice

Saadat Hasan Manto’s stories are known for their rawness, honesty, and unflinching portrayal of societal issues holding up a mirror to the hypocrisies and injustices that existed in his time — as they continue to be relevant today. While his work remains a source of provocation for writers and storytellers around the world, Hyderabad-based theatre troupe, B Studio, has recently taken the theatre community by storm with their latest production of the author’s narratives, translated into Telugu by Purnima Tammireddy. Titled Parayi, the play features his short stories Sahai and Khol Do.

In their poignant portrayal of the author’s pieces and director Osman Ghani’s first attempt together with his ensemble to enact Manto’s literature in Telugu, B Studio has masterfully traversed the profound impact of partition on humanity. Their show illuminates the senseless and heartbreaking consequences of the lived reality, accentuating the emotional cost of the division that led to dislocation of countless families, loss of homes and livelihoods, followed by an overpowering sense of personal and cultural displacement. Through their emphatic account of the characters and their melees, the troupe has lustrously arrested the tragedy, the human toll of political upheaval and the lasting scars it leaves on our psyche. 

Osman, whose sharpness brought this play to life, spoke about the tests of staging corruption and identity. “When you take up a project like this, it is important to strike a balance between the artiste’s vision and the audience’s comfort level. You want to be true to the material while also ensuring that the audience doesn’t feel alienated,” he tells us. His direction has garnered acclaim for its ability to bring out the best in each actor while elevating his artistic execution in every scene. “It was essential to create an immersive experience for the audience, which is why we paid attention to every detail, from ambient sound scores, overhead fixtures for minimal lighting, to simple costumes. We spent a good amount of time in our research around Indian history so we could fairly represent the partition and how the common people were affected by it,” Osman says. 
Free entry. On April 7. At Ravindra Bharati.
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Twitter: @PaulChokita