Mangaluru: It may be recalled that the folk art ‘Yakshagana’ was used to create awareness on cancer disease recently by the Dakshina Kannada district unit of Indian Medical Association, Now again, Yakshagana is being used for creating awareness on conserving forest and protecting the environment!
‘Arbudasura Garvabhanga’ was an episode of Yakshagana that doctors had staged as a part of ‘Cancer Day’ programme. Here, as part of ‘World Environment Day’ some select artistes staged an Yakshagana episode ‘Hasire Usiru’. This Yakshagana prasanga was written by Dr. Dinakar S Pachanady, under the direction of Kadri Navaneeth Shetty, an amateur Yakshagana artiste.
This Yakshagana staged at TMA Pai International Conventional Hall on Friday, July 12 to a tremendous response from the audience, say Yakshagana enthusiasts. Veteran Yakshagana Bhagavatha (playback singer) Bhavyashri Kulkunda and others namely Kusumakara Mudipu, Rohith Uchila and Nithesh Shetty assisted as the playback artistes. In this ‘Hasire Usiru’ Yakshagana, ‘Vrukshaka’and ‘Lathangi’ are the two lead roles which were performed by Dr. Dinakar S Pachanady and Arun Kotian. The other artistes Sharath Panambur, Gururaj Kalikamba, Poornesh Acharya, Shailesh Baikampady, Sathwik Kumar, Kiran Kumar among others performed other roles.
The theme of the Yakshagana is, “people should protect our nature in order to live peacefully.” It also sheds light on what are the ill- effects due to ignorance regarding conserving the nature.
The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board members lke Piyush L Rodrigues, M Venkataramu, Hanuma Gowda Murakal and Environment Officer Rajashekhar Puranik honoured the artists with a memento. The same troupe is likely to give more programmes in and around the city, in order to create awareness among the public.
