Archive · 19 Sep 2026
Unconventional Stagings Revisit Karna, Ravana and Epic Moral Questions
Two theatre productions offer unusual ways to look at famous Indian epics.
One production tells a story about Karna from the Mahabharata.
It focuses on difficult questions about family, loyalty, duty and right and wrong.
The director uses simple scenery and quiet music so the actors’ words and feelings stand out.
Arna Mukhopadhyay received particular praise for playing Karna.
The second production is called Asura and is based on a novel by Anand Neelakantan.
It shows the Ramayana partly through the viewpoint of the asuras, or traditionally defeated beings.
Its actors use martial-arts training, masks, lights and music to make the battles lively.
Sansriti’s production of Buddhadeva Bose’s Pratham Partha explores Karna’s struggles with lineage, duty, kinship and dharma.
Director Debesh Chattopadhyay uses restrained sets, lighting and music to foreground the play’s psychological conflicts.
Arna Mukhopadhyay’s Karna is portrayed as controlled, mysterious and committed to his principles.
Kasba Udbhas’s Asura adapts Anand Neelakantan’s novel by presenting the Ramayana from the asuras’ perspective.
Extensive Kalaripayattu training, Purulia Chhau masks and Mayukh Majumder’s choreography shape Asura’s energetic staging.
- Who
- Sansriti and Kasba Udbhas, with directors and performers including Debesh Chattopadhyay, Arna Mukhopadhyay, Aratrick Bhadra and Subhankar Nath.
- What
- Two Bengali theatre productions reinterpret epic characters and conflicts: Pratham Partha focuses on Karna, while Asura presents an alternative view of the Ramayana.
- When
- Pratham Partha was written in 1970; Asura is based on a 2012 novel and both productions are discussed as recent theatre work.
- Where
- The productions are part of Bengali theatre, with Asura described as a production by the youthful city-based group Kasba Udbhas.
- Why
- The productions use multiple perspectives and unconventional physical staging to examine the psychology, morality and viewpoints within the epics.
- Pratham Partha
- Buddhadeva Bose’s 1970 poetic drama centered on Karna.
- Pratham Partha production
- Presented by Sansriti and directed by Debesh Chattopadhyay.
- Karna performer
- Arna Mukhopadhyay was praised for a restrained, psychologically focused performance.
- Source of Asura
- Based on Anand Neelakantan’s 2012 novel Asura: The Tale of the Vanquished.
- Asura group
- Produced by Kasba Udbhas, with Aratrick Bhadra leading the group and writing the script.
- Movement training
- The cast trained extensively in Kalaripayattu for the production.
- Visual traditions
- Asura uses Purulia Chhau masks, while its lights and sounds follow the choreography.