When money is the matter

Telugu play ‘Kalahala Kapuram’ Rangadhara Theatre stream’s latest offering is a humourous take on the serious issue of how money plays a spoil sport in a happy marriage

How much is too much when it comes to saving for a rainy day? As a counter reaction to one spouse’s extreme miserliness, is the other justified going on a wasteful spending spree at times, even borrowing heavily to finance it? Where does one strike the balance between optimal spending and penny pinching? What happens to a couple whose lives drift apart to near incompatibility due to this contentious issue?

Rangadhara’s – ‘Kalahala Kapuram’ - their first play in Telugu language in recent times, a part of their proposed seven weekend play event, was staged at Lamakaan on June 1 as the first one in the series.

The 45-minute play with back-end support from the Rangadhara team was helmed by Bh Padmapriya, HOD of the Department of Theatre Arts, Potti Sriramulu Telugu University.The tone was humorous but the message it intended to convey was serious – how life can be ruined by petty squabbling and insensitive attitude to each other in a marriage.

The setting of the play in a typical middle class household was a normal one, even familiar if one may put it. The arguments sprouting out of nowhere between a husband who is proud of having survived on one bar of bathing soap as a student during his two-year hostel stay and a wife who wants to be active among the hot and happening neighbourhood is also nothing new.

What sustained the play was the professional acting displayed by the three principle characters – the miserly husband, Krishnamurthy (T Satyanarayana Chari), the argumentative wife (E Samatha) and the mediator uncle Vasudevudu (Ch. Nataraja Gopala Murthy).

With interesting and genuinely funny moments when all the three get together to discuss life and finances, the play moves to a feel good climax when the elderly relative steps in to mend fences between the squabbling couple. In an era where divorces are increasing by leaps and bounds citing flimsiest of reasons, there is a message here for many modern corporate types, one feels.