There are scenes in the film version of peter brooktake mahabharat I return again and again; Which I dissect in every available platform, in print and on stage.
Take the prologue to the treacherous dice game. Duryodhana (Georges Coraface), recently returned from Indraprastha and seething with envy over the ethereal bliss of Maya’s palace, plots the Pandava brothers’ downfall with his uncle Shakuni (Tunzel Curtis). His mother Gandhari (Hélène Pétrot) tells him to seek distraction with his wives; She reminds him of all the blessings he enjoys.
Duryodhana’s response is a white-hot creature amidst the flickering of dozens of dancing nilavilakku And Thookuvilakku, His voice rises as a slow drum beat gathers pace like the heartbeat of a swaying earth. , but I want To be dissatisfied,’ he becomes angry… ‘Man’s body grows from birth and everyone is happy; In the same way his desire increases, his desire for power increases.’
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Every time, I am enthralled by this vision of the Kaurava Yuvraj: easily one of the play’s most compelling and self-aware characters, who can locate the precise epicenter of his own hatred, the consequences of his excessive greed. foresaw, and still choose to act on their darkest impulses. With that one – almost throwaway – sequence, To suffer (with his playwright, Jean-Claude Carrière) keys us to those unobtrusive notes that resound through the diameter Mahabharata, I could immediately believe why his subjects would love Duryodhana and admire his rule, believe why the Kauravas could find far more allies in Kurukshetra than their cousins, even Bhishma – in the final chapters of industry festival — is given to the pangs of agonizing love for his wayward, charismatic, grandfather.
Mallika Sarabhai (far left) in a nine-hour transformation Mahabharata By Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
And that specific notion of Duryodhana weaves to the lionsi have my say Mahabharata In 19 voices. When “my” Gandhari says to Shakuni, ‘I will force time to stop, come back, / And I will kill you as a child,’ it is Duryodhana – the dearest eldest son who is the ‘breath of anger’ ‘ takes – that she would gladly kill to protect her brother. Later in the book, Georges Coraface’s explosive performance as a precise yet irresistible friend informs the portrayal of Karna’s wife Vrushali’s initial distrust and reluctant gratitude.
balancing principles and conflicts
Then Brooks has moments and anomalies Mahabharata This confused me, even enraged me for years, until I realized that one could make in retribution, as well, for a work of art that one loved in reserve; That effect need not arise merely from acceptance or consent. Satyavati, essentially subjective narrator to the lionsThe omniscient Vyasa is the pattern of the innumerable Mahabharatas, not only in the Brooke-ian adaptation – a position that he later blurts out from the beginning by reversing the lines spoken by his sage-son: ‘This is not the whole story, nor a lyric of mankind There is history. He, and other heroes of my book, would speak intermittently, without any single, infallible account, for ‘truth is a beast more wayward than time’.
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I have a more conflicted equation with Brooke and Carrière’s characterization of Amba/Shikhandi (played with quiet, heart-wrenching intensity by Corinne Jaber). When it comes to pure theatrical invention, my favorite opening scene is Part II: Exile in the Forest, The five Pandava brothers and their wife Draupadi (Mallika Sarabhai) are seen in the forest when a voice hailing Bhima (Mamadou Diome) breaks the silence. A figure draped in black appears. It is Amba who seeks out the strongest man in the world to kill Bhishma, the man who destroyed her life by abducting her. Swayamvar,
Yudhishthira (Andrzej Severin) feels incredulous: could this really be the mythical princess? ‘It was more than 40 years ago.’ Amba’s gaze – obsidian, unflinching – drowns out his words. ‘Hate keeps me young,’ she replies. Draupadi is less skeptical. She approaches Amba, and is comforted and blessed by a gentle hand on her bowed head.
Carol Karimera, Sean O’Callaghan, Jared McNeil and Toshi Suchitori in a Théâtre des Bouffs du Nord production Battle fieldbased on Mahabharata
, Photo Credit: Getty Images
Purists may find this erroneous in many respects. after all, according to the canonical readings of MahabharataAmba had killed herself in the sacrificial pyre several decades earlier to seek her rebirth and revenge. By this point in the epic, he is well into his new avatar as Shikhandi, prince of Panchala, son of Dhrupad and brother of Draupadi, to boot. How then could Amba appear before him, still woman, still seeking a champion to right her wrongs?
Yet, even with that one chronological reunion, along with the collapse of timeline and narrative continuity, the play accomplishes so much that it is nothing short of a dramatic sucker-punch. Suddenly, the ancestral roots of the vendetta strangling the Kuru dynasty become visible, with brutality against women going back several generations. Equally clear is Yudhishthira’s commitment to peace as the preferred course of action. Crucially, the shame and pain of the epic’s two memorable women are quickly mirrored. In this adaptation, they are bound not by blood, but by a shared heritage of the pursuit of justice. Vyas himself can appreciate the liberties taken here by Brooke and Carrière, so true is this emotional emphasis. Mahabharata,
an important reminder
This is why the final confrontation between Bhishma and Shikhandi almost three hours later seems completely absurd. Here, Shikhandi forgets the reasons for his desire to kill, and lays down the weapon, unable to continue the duel. One of the strangest – and, in my eyes, most punishing – most haunting stories of the epic, Amba/Shikhandi is denied closure. It is Krishna and Arjuna who proceed to kill Shikhandi as irrelevant.
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Why? Did Brooke need to focus on Bhishma’s nobility and Arjuna’s transformation to be enlightened enough to kill his beloved grandparents?
It was hard to admit, but an important reminder: We don’t need to be driven by the same impulses, nor seek the same truths, when creating art.
Karthika Nair | Photo Credit: Mahinsha S
I needed to find and express my vision for Amba/Shikhandi. so, in to the lions**, When Shikhandi faced Bhishma that last time at Kurukshetra, neither Krishna nor Arjuna appeared to facilitate the moment of reckoning. In an enduring devotion after a bond bound by pain and fury of two lives, the ending is resolved solemnly between Bhishma and Shikhandi, with full recognition of the futility of the act. “This time, we shall meet – neither shall win: / For I shall kill you, but first, you shall see me die,” in the latter’s words.
And I’m sure Peter Brook will understand that too, even though it contradicts his own statement. As actor Corin Jaber recently said, his years of working with her can be summed up in the line, ‘All my life I walk and question’ (his character in the play gives a response to Draupadi). Is). This indicates his tireless search for truthfulness to create a complete world within the play that is, above all, true to himself. A world that he could create, in his words, “anywhere, as long as there is space, and actors, and an audience.” Then she said, “I keep coming back to the line” How can death overcome death?’ from the same scene. What he has left behind is so rich, so vast that it is beyond death.
The writer is poet, librettist and dance producer. She is the author of several books including the award winning Till the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata ,
* The description that follows is a variation of the one included in the paper titled true lie (The License to Create and Kill in Adaptation) presented by the author at Presidency University Kolkata in 2017.
** Both the book and its major adaptations, Akram Khan’s 2016 dance piece and upcoming opera, directed by Shobhana Jaisingh for the Opéra National du Rhin in September.