Chandaa Bedni – Folk, fervour, faith and fortitude

At India‘s heart lies the ancient Bundelkhand region, known for the valour, swagger and art forms of its famed erstwhile ruling dynasties, the Chandelas and later, the Bundelas. Folk drama has defined the region’s creative expression and the Swang is one of its oldest styles – Swangs are essentially raucous and spirited musicals that are also progressive indictments of social evils, exploitation, malice and superstition, conveyed through satire, song and starkness.

Written by playwright Alakhnandan, Chandaa Bedni stands out among traditional Bundelkhandi Swangs as a musical that mixes theatre, music and dance with the politics of caste, the compelling joie-de-vivre of the uninhibited Bedni community, and weaves in a powerful plot of love and depravity, the betrayal of innocence, annihilation of trust, and an ultimate acknowledgment of a fatally flawed power system in society.

At the play's centre is the towering figure of Chandaa, a leading light of the Bednis, women who dance as well as offer up their bodies for a living, and do so with skill and abandon to satisfy their patrons, mostly powerful feudal lords. The Bednis are like ‘folk courtesans’, trained in the region’s rich musical and performative styles and unapologetic about their amoral means of livelihood. Chandaa herself is an enduring symbol of the true strength of a woman – she can be opinionated, disdainful, funny and irreverent, and yet loving, merciful, compassionate and immeasurably trusting.

To me this play is much more than a nuanced and loaded palette of folk dialect and fervour; it can draw in even a very urbane theatre-goer because of the way in which it addresses emotion, manipulation, cruelty and empathy.  The seamlessness with which it suddenly spirals from a placid rustic tale with seemingly mundane musical tropes to brutal violence in an unexpected plot twist makes one both dismayed and riveted at the same time.

Chandaa Bedni, directed by Anirudh Sarkar and produced by the Kolkata-based Rangkarmee, will be the opening play at the 20^th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (https://metawards.com/) . Tickets are live on bookmyshow.com and on the META website. Book before they sell out!