Karnataka artists unite -Sravasti Datta, THE HINDU

Last month, Bengaluru-based playwright Abhishek Majumdar had planned multiple stagings of his award-winning play The Djinns of Eidgah at Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur. A fringe group forcibly stopped the staging of the play because of false news. “A local newspaper had carried a completely fabricated news on the play. The previous day’s staging had about four people walk out, who were a part of the fringe group. We had not staged the play in the morning yet these miscreants created problems, clearly they were looking for publicity,” says Abhishek about the course of events.

Over the last few years, the muzzling of the voice of artists, writers, and performers, including the assassination of Gauri Lankesh, M.M. Kalburgi, Narendra Dhabolkar, Govind Pansare, the recent stopping of the staging of Dayasindhu Sakrepatna’s Shiva at Jagriti Theatre, has led to the people belonging to the world of art and culture to come together to protest against this. Bengaluru will witness a protest art festival #ArtistsUniteKarnataka: Resist. Reclaim. Represent. as a form of protest against such censorship. The festival is being organised by various local groups such as Aravani Art Project, Theatre Lab (Youth), Visthar Ranga Shale, Maraa, 1 Shanthi Road, Drama Queen, Toto Funds the Arts, and India Foundation for the Arts.

Theatre personality Kirtana Kumar says the idea for the festival was born out of a pan-national Artists Unite movement and petition against the politics of hate.

“The petition is for artists to resist the dismantling of democracy and stand up for pluralism,” says Kirtana, adding. “Almost 700 artists signed the petition. It was then decided that artists from across the country, including big cities and b-towns will unite and present an event on March 2 and 3. In Bengaluru, we are celebrating the event on March 2. The event is an open call for all artists to stand up for democracy, constitutionality and pluralism.”

Films such as ‘Gauri’, ‘In the Shade of the Fallen Chinar’, ‘De Sidere 7’, directed by Lata Mani, ‘We have not come here to die’, directed by Deepa Dhanraj, ‘Sikkidre Shikari Illdidire Bhikari’, directed by Madhu Bhushan and Vinod Raja will be screened.

There will be spoken word poetry, play readings, a dance performance by Anuradha Venkatraman, musical performances by bands such as Thermal and a Quarter and by artistes such as MD Pallavi,there will be art installations, and a performance.

The event will be held on March 2, 3pm onwards, at Visthar, Doddagubbi. Visit: www.visthar.org