AP-MODERN DRAMA

MODERN DRAMA

Sarasa Vinodini Nataka Sabha, started by playwright and actor Dharmavaram Krishnamachari in the last quarter of nineteenth century gave spur to modern Telugu stage. Mention may be made of the commercialized dramatic companies such as Dharwar, Parsi, Sangli, Surabhi. Chitranaleeyam, a dramatic adaptation from an episode from Mahabharata and Sarangadhara, a romantic drama based on Chalukyan history attracted, in those days, crowded houses. Gayopakhyanam by Chilakamurti Lakshmi Narasimham too was a popular play. Vasantasena based on Sudraka staged by Surabhi company was a hit in those days. Balijepalli’s Harichandra and adaptations from veni samharam, and sakuntalam formed the main pieces of his repertoire.

Gurazada Apparao created in the Kanyasulkam (1918) a social satire based on widow remarriage and social emancipation of women. Another forceful play based on history Prataparudriyam by Vedam Venkataraya Sastri was a stage success. These two were stuffed with liberal use of spoken dialect eschewing all obsolete intricate grammatical structures. These two plays hailed as master pieces of the day, are popular even now. Sthanam Narasimharao, taking the role of Maduravani in Kanyasulkam brilliantly portrayed that role. Manjuluri Krishna Rao similarly brought fame to mantra Yugandhara in Prataparudriyam.Later, the Mylavaram Drama company, the Bala Bharati Nataka Samajam organized the theatrical activities with their centre at Vijayawada with Ranapratap. Sakuntalam, Savitri forming main themes in their repertoire. Sanjiva Rao, Yadavalli Suryanarayana, Addanki Sriramamurti were top performers in that Dramatic company in 1910 and made mark with Harischandra and Pandavodyogavijayamulu of Tirupati Venkata Kavulu.

Another professional troupe under the name and style of Sri Rama Vilasa Sabha (1920-1935) with top performers Govindarajula Vankata Subbarao, Sthanam Narasimha Rao , and Pulipati Venkateswarlu along with earlier Prataparudriyam and Kanya Sulkam in their repertoire held the field for some time along with Saranghadhara and tulabhara. Banda Kanakalingeswara Rao’s contribution to the Andhra stage is a distinguished one. Later, T. Raghavachari (Bellary Raghava as he was popularly known) entered the Telugu Theatre with fresh approach and left a stamp of his own with distinction. His role Rajaraja in Saranghadhara; Chanakya in Chandragupta; Hiranya Kasipa in Prahlada and Ramadas deserve mention. Raghava produced a few social themes written by P. V. Rajamannar.

Advent of Cinema resulted in extinction of professional drama companies by 1940.However, the histrionic urge among Andhra youth gave birth to amateur drama activity. There are more than 700 such amateur groups in Andhra Pradesh according to a survey conducted in 1966 by the State sponsored Sangita natak Akademi. The water mark of the amateur activity was Raja rao’s production mahabhoomi (sponsored by Praja Natya Mandali) based on a theme of peasant uprising. Kurma Venu Gopalaswami of Andhra University contributed much to the experimental theatre. More recent trends in the Tgeatre movement to day is the revival of Andhra Nataka Kala Parishat through a chain of drama competitions and award of prizes for successful entries. Radio plays and one act plays predominate in these days.

The Andhra Pradesh Sangita Nata Akademi has a programme to give expert technical advice and assistance necessary to amateur drama groups. The Andhra Pradesh Sangita Nataka Akademi has three different activities: Music, Dance, Drama. It renders financial assistance to give fillip to amateur groups and hold seminars on drama and other allied topics The Akademi has an air-conditioned auditorium namely Ravindra Bharati, with a mini- theatre 1966 centrally located in Hyderabad. It is equipped with the atrical equipment based on modern acoustics.