tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post113865499844830250..comments2023-05-11T15:54:46.183+05:30Comments on Little Shop of Random Thoughts: Quo Theater 2: The Storm in the Soup BowlKrishna Kumar. Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10562252516411763929noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1139299695526656292006-02-07T13:38:00.000+05:302006-02-07T13:38:00.000+05:30In the immortal words of the eminently-blinged Mr....In the immortal words of the eminently-blinged Mr.T, "I ppppity the pooah foohs! I do! I do!"<BR/><BR/>p.s. All my commentry is addressed purely to the spirit and principle of your argument for artistic integrity. As for the actual objects of your many-splendoured-ire, I have a small confession to make: I'm yet to see an Evam play! Every time they put up a production, something or the other comes in the way of my watching it - work, illness, travel, you name it. I do, though, have the unique distinction of being part of their first ever public event a couple of years back - a Harry Potter book launch at the Goodbooks store. I was interning at Tulika then, and ended up designing all the sets and banners and badges and stuff for the launch. Evam back then was just Karthik, Sunil and Preethi - all fresh out of college and roiling with heady dreams of making it big and changing this city's cultural climate in the bargain. We were to remake Goodbooks in the image of Hogwarts. Ah, Optimism, that bounteous source of laughter and mild embarrassment! I shall refrain, modest as I am, from commenting on the end result. I can say this much - we tried hard, we really did... <BR/>The final event, as I recall, was a wild maniacal soiree in a small sweaty space stuffed beyond capacity with a massive army of screaming frustrated kids chaperoned by a tiny garrison of screaming frustrated adults. Man, those were the days...eyefryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07965731594675005620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1139247804363037002006-02-06T23:13:00.000+05:302006-02-06T23:13:00.000+05:30Hey vinayak,what was the post you removed? Put it ...Hey vinayak,<BR/>what was the post you removed? Put it back. We are talking avant-garde, you can't back out now.<BR/><BR/>Ok, regarding your latest comment, I am not against them as a person or human being or anything. On the contrary. Only, if it had been anyone else it still would have been the same - my reaction. I just can't take bad theatre, that's all. Honest or not. It's the same way that how much ever dialectics or politics or discourse Mahesh and Mukesh and Pooja Bhatt may come up with in their movies... it still doesn't justify the commercial intent. At the end of the day people may say "Talk is Cheap, takes money to buy whiskey!". I agree, but one of these days they gonna get too much of whiskey that blood transfusion would become anathema to the streams and veins that experiment, and artistic freedom to take risk with art than doing risque art is going to be repelled by their body. And they are going to run around in circles. The other day I was talking to someone close to them who grudgingly agreed to my points, but tried to save ass by saying "give them time, just year and half they been here" and I said if you don't build a guts to try out from the beginning you're sure gonna chicken out once the brand has been built, once the financial stakes are high! I guess what goes for the Hussains and Souzas also hold good for the Araikals and the Bangalore breed of artists. And that's the way most english theatre in Mumbai and B'lore, now in Chennai seems to be headed. I am pained.Krishna Kumar. Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10562252516411763929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1139205051266461662006-02-06T11:20:00.000+05:302006-02-06T11:20:00.000+05:30Wow. I just read both the controversial posts that...Wow. I just read both the controversial posts that everyone's been talking about. Two thoughts:<BR/><BR/>(a) I very much agree that our revitalized Young India (and even most of Old India, for that matter) have forgotten the spirit of Avant-Garde. We screech and clamour and imitate (much like the simians in your favourite analogy) those damn Yankee sitcoms and their tepid morality - it's fun to watch, but hard, for any person of average intelligence, to emulate. As an artist, I see this most obviously in the kind of prices that people like M.F.Hussain and Souza and god knows how many others of that sort command in the domestic market (read 'among yuppie idiots'). What Hussain&co. continue to dish out is a jaded and infinitely inferior duplication of what the European masters innovated nearly a century ago. Nothing path-breaking, nothing indigenous, nothing truly self-reflexive, and nothing really stimulating. But, of course, McIndia seems more keen on the primary-coloured-shitty-shinola of packaging and Trends (that most hated buzzword) than anything remotely apperceptive. And the same goes for any other artform, be it writing, cinema, music or theatre. So I say, yeah! Screw the bastards for all they're worth! God knows they need the odd jolt or two from the true blue...<BR/><BR/>and (b) You are a very brave man. We need more unambiguous critics like you.<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/><BR/>V.eyefryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07965731594675005620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1139204857182753362006-02-06T11:17:00.000+05:302006-02-06T11:17:00.000+05:30This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.eyefryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07965731594675005620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1139156231431263482006-02-05T21:47:00.000+05:302006-02-05T21:47:00.000+05:30Dear Sriniam not at all angry or irritated at thes...Dear Srini<BR/><BR/>am not at all angry or irritated at these people. am only sad that with their possible reach they are not bringing extra specialness to their shows. hope they get to read this and mend. am very passionate about my theatre and i have literally had to work my way through from arranging the furniture and pasting posters to an actor-director that i am today. and i really have gone through the whole curve, although my learning is not complete. I just cannot stand it when someone takes something so lightly.Krishna Kumar. Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10562252516411763929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1138850389172542132006-02-02T08:49:00.000+05:302006-02-02T08:49:00.000+05:30Oh, it's not so much about conducting theatre work...Oh, it's not so much about conducting theatre workshops for outsiders, but the schedule it looks like don't allow for internal military drills. And that is what happens if it goes on the commercial look-out rather than livelihood gleanings because, art can be a career or even a profession, but not a business, then like those art-houses that store and sell artworks of popular artists, we just become clearing houses for various sort of escapists. Landing Stage is another thing, though. LS was conceived as a niche platform to initiate teens and youths, not to mention adolescents, through chanelised creative route.Krishna Kumar. Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10562252516411763929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1138798583799676472006-02-01T18:26:00.000+05:302006-02-01T18:26:00.000+05:30true..never seen any ads for Evam theatre workshop...true..never seen any ads for Evam theatre workshops (though they might hold it privately for 'Team Evam'. i'm not in the know) unlike Landing Stage.antickpixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12503297005949074308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1138762165528490872006-02-01T08:19:00.000+05:302006-02-01T08:19:00.000+05:30Oh well.. all my productions are meant always to g...Oh well.. all my productions are meant always to go beyond mere entertainment. Sometimes the script is politic and ideology dominant, sometimes humour dominant, but the subtextual discourse is always made aware for an observant audience. And without training of mind we don't do theatre. Often due to production constraints and bandwidth problems we may not train production-centric, but there is always training and workshops as Masquerade. Both the lead guys of Evam have been through enough of that in the past, and that is why it is disconcerting to see them theatre without Theatre.Krishna Kumar. Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10562252516411763929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10951659.post-1138719915125350942006-01-31T20:35:00.000+05:302006-01-31T20:35:00.000+05:30ah, this makes your point clearer. part one was a ...ah, this makes your point clearer. part one was a bit muddled IMO.<BR/><BR/>this i agree with completely, but i ask..what are you doing about it? not meant to sound challenging. just, are you staging plays that go beyond what you've outlined? <BR/><BR/>was oleanna meant to do that?antickpixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12503297005949074308noreply@blogger.com