Swatantryada Ota, a play based on a novel written by Bolwar Mahammad Kunhi, was staged in Shivamogga. | Photo credit: SK Dinesh
The two performances of Shivamogga Rangayana Swatantryada Ota’s latest play, based on the award-winning novel Bolwar Mahammad Kunhi, held on April 25 and 26, received an impressive response from the Shivamogga theater audience.
The play opens with a boy pulling a spinning wheel across the stage, a charaka, a quietly powerful image that immediately establishes the spirit of Gandhian philosophy and sets the tone for everything that follows. From that moment on, the production captivates with a seamless fusion of evocative music and striking use of colored light as scenes from Partition unfold. Men, women and children move across the stage with heavy, difficult steps, carrying their entire lives in their hands. The lighting is so vivid and precisely crafted that the audience feels less like they’re watching a play and more like they’re standing in front of a moving image.
Published – 27 Apr 2026 18:31 IST
