Chintamani ban: The unkindest cut

Vijayawada: The Bard of Avon used two superlatives in one sentence when he described the act of Brutus in Julius Caesar by stating that it was the 'most unkindest' cut of all.

Senior theatre artistes said that the quote might be aptly used for the ban imposed by the State government on the 100-year-old social reforming drama 'Chintamani'. They expressed anxiety stating that it was like setting a dangerous trend to impose ban on the popular Telugu drama, written by noted reformer and playwright Kallakuri Narayana Rao in 1920.

He also penned the plays like 'Varavikrayam' on dowry system, 'Madhuseva' against alcohol. His plays 'Varavikrayam' and 'Chintamani' were made as films in those days.

Initially 'Chintamani' was staged without any change in dialogues and they presented the play as Narayana Rao penned. Later, some artistes, in order to make this drama more popular, created their own dialogues and rendered them which are objectionable for a section.

After banning this play, many artistes and organisations requested the Government to cancel the order and even staged protest demonstrations.

Speaking to The Hans India, critic and writer Dr Sa Sri said that the drama is a public art form and Kallakuri Narayana Rao penned the play 'Chintamani' in 1920, depicting the hardships and losses to society caused by prostitution. He also said that Chintamani was a very popular play on the Telugu soil, with over 400 performances before its first publication in 1923. He recalled that later the original play was included with some cheap conversations from time to time. He recalled that centenary celebrations of the play were held in Eluru last year.

Dr Sa Sri opined, "The 1923 original print is still available in PDF format. Instead of banning the entire drama, the government may issue orders to stage the play as written by Kallakuri Narayana Rao. The government can also reverse the orders and print the original version of Chintamani for the stage."