What if those who came to assassinate MM Kalburgi or Gauri Lankesh had lived in the homes of these intellectuals for a week? What if they had spent even a couple of hours in conversation with them? Would they still have carried out the killing? What conversations would have unfolded between them? These imaginary scenarios come to a dramatic realisation in the play Bhagavantana Marana.

Based on a story by Malayalam writer KR Meera, the play was earlier adapted into Malayalam and successfully staged by Dr Sam Kutty Pattamkary. It has now been directed in Kannada for Samudaya Bengaluru. The Malayalam story was translated into Kannada by K Prabhakaran, with theatre artist Padma Shivamogga serving as co-director. 

Though the title Bhagavantana Marana (The Death of God) may suggest a rejection of divinity, the play in reality exposes the politics of communal hatred carried out in the name of god. 

In the play, a professor branded as “anti-Hindu” by communal forces is marked for assassination by a Hindutva organisation, which sends a foot soldier armed with a revolver. As the young assassin engages in dialogue with the professor and his students, he begins to rediscover his humanity. 

The professor, facing a gun, responds not with bullets but with questions. The anticipated murder transforms into a dialogue — this is the uniqueness of........

© The News Minute