NRI PULSE 7October 2009 ........City News........

‘Chanakya’: Compelling Message Of Unity & FreedomBY MAHADEV DESAI & VIRENMAYANI

Atlanta: Atlanta’s prodigal writer/producer/director Syam Yellamraju presented a mega, 326BC historical drama “Chanakya”, in English, atthe Clayton County Performing Arts Center onSunday, September 13th, in benefit of the ChinmayaMission Alpharetta, (CMA).

CMA Chairman, Pujya SwamiTejomayananda conveyed Pujya Gurudev SwamiChinmayananda’s and his blessings and good

wishes on the occasion. CMA President SudhaMalhotra welcomed everyone and introducedBoard Member Smt. Sharada Kumarji, who is resi-dent Acharya of Chinmaya Mission, Ann Arbor,Michigan and who has been an inspirational andguiding force behind CMA from its inception. Af-

ter a brief introduction to CMA and its proposedproject of an Ashram project, she proceeded tolight the diyas as a reverential homage to PujyaGurudev Swami Chinmayananda. CMA had initi-ated a praiseworthy Chanakya Essay Competi-tion for children, overseen by Lakshmi Vedala, to

motivate them to learn about Chanakya: his con-tribution as a scholar, a Prime Minister, a shrewddiplomat, and chief architect of the first MauryaEmperor, Chandragupt’s rise to power. As thenames of the winners from Elementary School,Middle School and High School were announced,the audience responded with a resounding ap-plause. In addition, all the names of the winnersand profiles of the judges were published in theprogram brochure.

Presented to a 1200 seat, sold-out patronage,the two and half hour audio-visual treat

‘Chanakya’, evoked deep patriotic intensity andcreated a scope for special and authentic early-ageIndian music and culture, which was delivered tothe hilt. It is notable, that no current century In-dian instruments like sitar, tabla, etc., were usedfor the background score. Instead; veena, flute,

dhundhubi, manjira andtrumpets were recorded.The music includedchanting and recitationsof uplifting shlokas fromthe Vedas. All of the 92artists, of varied ethnicbackground, playing the110 roles; thoroughlyimmersed themselves intheir stage characters andacted very convincingly.The elaborate periodcostumes, includingthose of the Greek sol-diers, Indian Royalty,Acharyas and studentsundergoing training at theGurukul in Vedas andmartial arts; the lighting,

the props and varied backdrops of a hut, a ruralscene, and the palace hall; the furniture, battlescenes and accessories that consisted of an el-ephant, the throne, coins, pots, urns, sword-fight-ing et al., added to the artistic finesse of the entireproduction and presentation. It was authentic to

the core. Though there were as only two Indianfolk-dance presented with young village womenin colorful costumes joined by the invited but in-vading Greek soldiers, the choreography lingeredtill the end. There were 92 actors with the agerange (5 – 60), playing 110 characters. More than75% of the 30 plus production and direction teamwere women. Music was locally composed andauthentically produced in India by the group com-prising of composer Srini Kishore and team, SujathaRayburn, Smitha Yellamraju and Srivalli Vempatti.Technology was in full play and concerted team-effort was in constant motion; for example only 8microphones were circled back and forth betweenall the performers, to deliver without error, thetheatrical dialogue-audio to the audience, for thetwo and half hours of live play which resonatedwell with everyone in the audience. A fete in it-self, besides the constant make-up changes etc.Thescenes presented in rapid succession, had mini-mum stage dark time in-between 12 scene and set-ting changes. That downtime was effectively usedby “Kaal” the narrator of the Chanakya history.The audience enthusiastically applauded at theend of each scene-change and gave a long thunder-ous standing ovation to the entire cast, when theplay concluded.

When the play begins, we find AcharyaChanak (father of Chanakya) and Shaktar talkingabout the unjust and oppressive rule of KingDhananand of Magadh. Young Chanakya goes tothe University of Takshasila to empower himselfwith education. After completing his studies hebecomes a professor. Masses suffered becausethere was disunity and wars between kingdoms ofGandhara, Kaikeyi and Magadh. Like his father,Chanakya, a Brahmin, is also insulted and ill-treated by King Dhananand. Enraged, Chanakyameets an extra ordinary child named Chandragupt,and takes him to Takshashila for training.Chanakya and Chandragupt team up to seek retri-bution against King Dhananand. The Greek Em-peror Alexander invades India. The weak kings oflittle kingdoms are helpless against Alexander’spowerful army. Chanakya and his peers try topersuade shortsighted kings such as Ambhi ofGandhara and Dhananand of Magadh to unite butin vain. So Chanakya decides to initiate a grassrootsmovement to unite and awaken the masses(Uttishta Bharata). A change of heart is broughtabout among the Indian mercenaries in the Greekarmy to turn into freedom fighters. Many kings,ministers, army generals and strategists unite towage a war against Alexander, under Chandragupt’scommand. Death of a Greek Governor and myste-rious death of Alexander helps to drive away theGreeks from India. Next Chanakya andChandragupt use various stratagems to bring aboutan end to dictatorial regime of King Dhananandand to enthrone Chandragupt.

When Syam was asked, what motivated himto produce ‘Chanakya’? he promptly retorted: “Ido not have the resources to produce a commercialBroadway hit, but we got dangerously close. Theteam focuses on community oriented shows, witha purpose. Chanakya was designed to take thecommunity theatre to the realm of professional“Broadway like” show. We will not pursue Broad-way shows, albeit our team has the capabilityand the know-how, but not the resources. It doesnot interest us either. We do shows for the benefit

of our communities and future generations, cer-tainly not for money. More than 50% of the art-ists would not have performed if this was a moneymaking venture. I wanted our kids to get a visualtreat of what “glorified India” meant and that wewere “cool” even in 326BC. Hence the reason, theplay was even delivered in English. Not one of theover 30 youth that participated in the play willever forget the history of Chanakya. That is whatI wanted to see achieved and our team did! “Agood show for a great cause””

Viren Mayani feels, that talent mining fromwithin our local communities, nurturing some ofthem, gathering and uniting them to cohesivelyparticipate and contribute to a humungous playlike Chanakya, proves many things:

(a) we do have immense inert talent in each one ofus and it needs to be tapped (b) collectively we canmake magic especially when it is for a just cause – likeChanakya did for India’s history (c) it does take a villageto create something of this nature especially when morethan 50% of the actors are on stage the first time ever(d) patience and perseverance is extremely rewarding,especially when all participants are not punctual (e)you build a community within a community.

When asked another valid and pertinent question,“Why CMA? when there are so many non-profits toraise funds for in Atlanta!” Syam stated that this wasthe first ever fundraiser for CMA. CMA’s methodol-ogy stylized as a Gurukul, teaches Vedic learning tostudents and they too have the hierarchical Acharyaembodiment. It was a perfect parallel, teaching stu-dents right from wrong – the way Chanakya taught the

Photos by Passion Photo & Video

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