Fuelled with a lot of mixed emotions, Barrister Parvateesham is a beautifully crafted play. THN got to witness it at the ongoing Bharat Rang Mahotsav by the National School of Drama.

Directed by Shiva Prasad Tamu, an NSD alumnus, the play is an adaptation of a famous Telugu novel of the same name. Set up in the pre-Independence era, it is the story of a young man inspired by Bipin Chandra Pal’s speech during the freedom movement. Parvateesham decides to become a barrister and join the movement. But the family disapproves of his wish and then he decides to flee to London.

He gets exposed to a world very different from his naïve imagination and becomes a laughing-stock. The play portrays Parvateesham’s struggle during his stay in London and his participation in the freedom movement after returning to India, his transformation from an innocent village boy to a freedom fighter.

The experiences of Parvateesham as described in the novel have been for the contemporary viewer. To stage this text, the director has picked only a few important incidents and tried to give the experience of a man’s journey by using technology and creating a three-dimensional space using video graphics and projection. The production has been developed with the collaboration between actors and designers.

Play: Barrister Parvateesham
Writer: Mokkapati Lakshmi Narasimha Shastri
Adaptation: Mahesh Ghodeswar
Director: Shiva Prasad Tumu
Group: Prayogam Theatre Group, Jaipur
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1hr 30mins

Text and images by Supriya Aggarwal