About the
Kannada Version
With the
success of English version, Anand Raghav always wanted this play
to be staged in Kannada. So P D Sathish Chandra took up the
challenge of directing the Kannada Version and Chandan Shankar
took up penning the wonderfully done transliteration. The
play was a challenge to translate but it did gave us an
opportunity to explore the nativity of Kannada in the play.
ನಾಟಕದ
ಬಗ್ಗೆ: ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟ್, ಭಾರತ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಮ್ಮರವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆದು ನಿಂತ ಕ್ರೀಡೆ.
ಯಾವ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಅಂದರೆ, ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಡಾಕ್ಟರ ಹಾಗು ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರ್ ಆಗುವ ಕನಸು ಎಷ್ಟು
ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವೋ, ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟರ್ ಆಗುವ ಕನಸು ಸಹ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿದೆ. ಭಾರತ
ದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಅತಿ ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ಶ್ರೀಮಂತರಾಗ ಬೇಕೆಂದರೆ ರಾಜಕಿಯ, ಸಿನಿಮ ಹಾಗು
ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟ್ ಇವು ಮೂರರಿಂದ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸಾದ್ಯ ಎನ್ನುವ ನಂಬಿಕೆಯು ಇದೆ. ಇವತ್ತು
ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಎಲ್ಲ ಕ್ರೀಡೆಗೂ ಬೆಟ್ಟಿಂಗ್ ಅನ್ನೋ ಕರಿ ಮೋಡ ಆವರಿಸಿದೆ. ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ
ಭಾರತ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟ್ ಒಂದು ದಂದೆಯೆಂದೇ ಪರಿಗಣಿಸಬಹುದು. ಬರಿ ೪ ರಿಂದ ೫
ತಾಸುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಕೋಟಿಗಟ್ಟಲೆ ಟರ್ನ್ಓವರ್ ಮಾಡುವ ಬುಕ್ಕೀಗಳ ಸಂಕ್ಕೆ ದಿನದಿಂದ
ದಿನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದೆ. ಒಬ್ಬ ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟರ್ ಬೆಟ್ಟಿಂಗ್ ಜಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಹೇಗೆ
ಮಣಿಯುತ್ತಾನೆ? ಬರಿ ದುಡ್ಡಿನ ಆಸೆಗೆ ತನ್ನ ದೇಶವನ್ನೇ ಮಾರುವಷ್ಟು
ನೀಚನಾಗುತ್ತಾನ ? ಇಂತಹ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಡುವುದು ಸಹಜ. ಇಂತಹ
ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳನ್ನೇ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು, ಒಬ್ಬ ನಿಯತ್ತಿನ ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟರ್ ತನ್ನ.
ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಎಷ್ಟು ತಿರುವುಗಳನ್ನು ನೋಡುತ್ತಾನೆ, ಎಷ್ಟು ನೋವುಗಳನ್ನು
ಅನುಭವಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ ಎಂದು ತೋರಿಸಿ ಕೊಡುವುದೆ ದೂಸ್ರಾ. ಒಬ್ಬ ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟರ್ ತಾನು ಔಟ್
ಆದಾಗ, ಅಂಪೈರ್ ಔಟ್ ಎಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸದಿದ್ದರು, ತಾನೆ ಸ್ವತಹ ಮೈದಾನವನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು
ನಡೆಯುವವನೆ ನಿಯತ್ತಿನಿಂದ ಹಾಗು ದೇಶಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಆಡುವ ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟಿಗ. ಅಂತ ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟರ್
ನ ಮಗ ಬೆಟ್ಟಿಂಗ್ ಜಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಲುಕಿ ತಪ್ಪು ದಾರಿ ಹಿಡಿದಾಗ ಏನಾಗುತ್ತದೆ? ಆ
ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟರ್ ಮತ್ತೆ ತನ್ನ ಮಗನನ್ನು ಸರಿ ದಾರಿಗೆ ತರುತ್ತಾನೋ ಇಲ್ಲವೋ? ಅಥವ ಮಗನ
ದಾರಿ ಸರಿ ಎಂದು ಒಪ್ಪಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾನೋ? ಇಂತಹ ಅಂಶಗಳ ಮೇಲೆಯೇ ದೂಸ್ರಾ ನಾಟಕ
ರೂಪುಗೊಂಡಿರುವುದು.
About the
English Version
The first
three shows of the English version were held in Bangalore on April
23 & 24, 2011 at Kala Soudha. The same play was later on
transcribed to Kannada & the first shows were on December 13 & 14,
2014 at Kala Soudha. Doosra
received rave reviews from the Press and Public during its staging
in Chennai. Each show was attended by a full house audience of
800+ The following are the highlights of the reviews from the
Newspapers and Magazines.
~ Doosra has a strong script and an unwavering focus on the theme.
The subject is new and the dialogue well crafted, scoring sixes
quite often with punch lines. The writer-director propels the play
forward with a strong stay at the crease and his team of actors is
with him all the way. Wrote the Hindu
~ This can be called as a “Hybrid play”. A mainstream play
combined with the Techniques of Street plays and Projections on
the screen make it unique in production. Due to the power of the
Story and script the audience applaud every scene. The Dialogues
are laced with humour but still create a lot of impact. People who
appreciate good cricket will appreciate the play as well. – Wrote Kalki a leading Tamil magazine
~ Using the electronic equipments, the feel of the stadium is
brought on the stage. The actor on stage is shown playing with
International cricketers. His shots and every wicket of his is
applauded by Public. Ex Cricketer WV Raman is shown as
interviewing the Hero. All these are shown on stage making the
audiences believe that Ganesh, the fictional character, is
actually a Cricketer. The Director has used the Electronic media
excellently.
~ The Dialogues are excellent -- humorous and at the same time
profound. The audience were applauding the dialogues repeatedly.
~ By taking a new subject and concept and making it as an
interesting play the team has scored a six. Anand Raghav, after
his success with his earlier plays like Sruti Bedham and Thanimai
has scored a hat trick with Doosra – Wrote Vallamai an Ezine.
Author's
Note
“The spinning ball" was a short story written by me in 2002 when a
scandal shook the cricketing world that almost ruined the
credibility of the game. Cricket survived the crisis but the
following 10 years saw the game change colors from a sport full of
nuances to an entertainment model that earned millions. Doosra,
the script , was thus born.
To stage a subject which is eaten, drunk and lived in this part of
the world, I had to tread a cautious path and indulge in lot of
research to present it to the audience. I was extremely confident
of the script. Right from the self talk by cricket in the opening
shot to the end, the narrative model adopted was different. Most
of the scenes comprised of just 2 of the characters on stage with
one of them delivering a lengthy monologue. Hence the performance
to carry this task required artists of the highest caliber and
professionalism. We roped in some of the best talents in the
Industry.
During the initial discussions, doubts were expressed by friends
whether a play that talked about cricket will be effective on
stage !. How do you bring in the aura of a Cricket stadium on
stage ? With this demanding aspect at the back of our minds we put
in special efforts for Doosra’s production. Video footages of the
actor playing cricket were shot in blue mat and were merged with
existing Cricket footages. A footage of thousands of people
sitting on the stand was used as a backdrop for the scene showing
the Hero’s first test match. A shoot with a former Cricketer was
arranged in which he interviews the Hero of the play. Cricket
commentaries were picked up and edited to be used at the
appropriate places in the scenes. They were all used with great
effect in the narrative.
We decided to do away with Set and chose Props instead and used a
back drop of a huge white screen of 10 x 25 feet in which
projections ,as an integral part of the play, were screened. We
adopted techniques of street plays, traditional mainstream theatre
and brought in an element of technology . When we went on stage,
Chennai simply loved the concoction. Doosra brought back the
crowds a major portion of which were the youngsters.
Doosra received rave reviews from the Press and Public during its
staging in Chennai. Doosra was produced by “Shraddha” a motley
group of stage lovers, patrons, dramatists, veterans and authors.
Shraddha stages quality plays with unique themes with the
objective of giving a shot in the arm for Tamil theatre..Each show
was attended by a full house audience of 800+ The following are
the highlights of the reviews from the Newspapers and Magazines.
I am sure Bangalore will be bowled over with what we have to
offer.
Anand
Raghav
