Poets, writers, artistes, and art lovers have appealed to the State government to lift the ban on the staging of the historic ‘Chintamani’ play as the story narrates how a social evil ruins lives.
“A century ago, playwright Kallakuri Narayana Rao had vividly portrayed how a family was dragged onto the street due to a social evil. He had created the characters based on the tradition then, without any intention to insult any person or community. But a few persons have added vulgarity and used objectionable language in the play, causing disrepute to the art,” they averred.
“A few artists have penned songs and dialogues based on the Chintamani Padya Natakam that are insulting, which eventually turned the tide against the 100-year-old play,” said Jayachandra Varma, artiste and secretary of the Sri Venkateswara Surabhi Theatre.
Govada Venkat, another artiste, urged the government to censor the objectionable dialogues, if any, and lift ban on the play.
“Along with the plays such as ‘Sri Krishna Rayabaram’, ‘Maya Bazaar’, ‘Bala Nagamma’, ‘Satya Harischandra’, ‘Bhakta Prahallada’, ‘Jai Patala Bhairavi’, and ‘Bobbili Yuddham’, ‘Chintamani’ too commands great patronage from connoisseurs even today. It is not correct to ban the play just because of one character,” Mr. Venkat said.
The artistes, writers, and poets formed the ‘Chintamani Parirakshana Samithi’ in Srikakulam on Wednesday. At a meeting, they expressed concern over the government’s decision to ban the play. Poet Nalli Dharma Rao is the convener of the samithi, while advocate Boddepalli Dharma Rao and stage artiste Chitti Venkatrao are its co-conveners.
The office-bearers vowed to take up an agitation seeking that the ban on the play be lifted immediately.
