‘The Anklet’: A play that reinvents a Tamil epic for the modern stage

The Anklet returns to Bengaluru after 20 years, this time in a feminist avatar directed by Shatarupa Bhattacharyya. The earlier version, also adapted from the Tamil epic, Silappadikaram, was written by Bangalore Little Theatre founder Vijay Padaki. In this retelling, Bhattacharyya extends the scope by foregrounding gender justice and women’s rage. The Anklet is set in the ancient Chola port city of Puhar and centres around Kannagi and her husband, Kovalan, the son of a wealthy merchant. Kovalan falls in love with a courtesan, Madhavi, and spends lavishly on her, ultimately languishing in poverty. Realising his mistake, Kovalan returns to Kannagi, who forgives him. They travel to Madurai to start their lives afresh and Kovalan tries to sell one of Kannagi’s anklets to raise capital for trade. Unfortunately, the anklet resembles the stolen royal jewel of the queen of Madurai. Kovalan is falsely accused of theft and the king orders his execution without a fair investigation. Kannagi storms the court, proves her husband’s innocence, and curses Madurai, which is engulfed in flames, sparing only the innocent.

Padaki recalls first hearing the story of Silappadikaram in the 1960s from a friend. “I thought it would be terrific as an English language stage production,” he says. Nearly 20 years later, he struck a friendship with Kasthuri Sreenivasan, who was then director of South Indian Textile Research Association (Sitra). “He was an aesthete and deeply knowledgeable of Tamil classical literature. He presented me a copy of a translation he had done of Silappadikaram and encouraged me to do what I liked with it,” says Padaki. He restructured it for stage, retaining the poetic quality of the drama while giving it a contemporary voice.

The Anklet was directed by Sridhar Ramanathan 20 years ago, and followed the epic’s narrative. Bhattacharyya, however, decided to chart her own course. Though Padaki initially disagreed with her decision to abridge the script, he is all praise for the final production having watched it. “Once a play is published, the author must accept that different artists will have different ways of presenting it on stage,” he says.

Bhattacharyya argues that today’s audience with shorter attention spans required an abridged script. To her, the core of The Anklet is about a woman whose anger is ethical outrage.“I wanted to show that women’s anger is still a political act. Public discourse often expects women to remain calm, forgiving and graceful in the face of injustice. Through Kannagi, I posed a specific question: What happens when patience runs out? Thus Kannagi became a symbol of accountability rather than mere revenge. Her rage exposes systematic failure,” elaborates Bhattacharyya. Many classical narratives romanticise suffering wives. But Bhattacharyya liked The Anklet because it didn’t go down that route. “I wanted to portray Kannagi as an agent and not a victim,” she says.

Apart from that, the story is also about marital rupture, abandonment and forgiveness. “It really worked for me as it humanises myths and also speaks about modern relationships,” she adds. Kovalan is shown as an ordinary and flawed character, instead of a villain. He suffers disproportionate punishment by being executed without investigation. The tragedy is not Kovalan’s death alone, but the speed and certainty with which the state acts without truth. “What happens when authority replaces inquiry? That really comes out in Vijay Padaki’s writing as well,” says Bhattacharyya.

Her interpretation focuses less on portraying a grand epic but more in getting the audience interested in the layers of the characters. She has chosen to stage the play in intimate venues to bring the actors and the audience closer together. The sets, therefore, avoid any decorative historicism. Padaki has the last word. He cautions against labelling the classic as universally relevant. “I would much rather have an audience acquire appreciation of it as a product of its time. It is best left to the audience to discover what is universal and what is of contemporary relevance about the play,” he says.

At Samarthanam, CA: 39, 16th Main Road, 15th Cross Road, Sector 4, HSR Layout, on 28 February, at 3pm and 7pm.

Sravasti Datta is a Bengaluru-based independent writer.