Sign in with Facebook
প্রীতম চট্টোপাধ্যায� 's Reviews > Tughlaq: A Play in Thirteen Scenes
Tughlaq: A Play in Thirteen Scenes
by
by
Published in 1962 and originally written in Kannada but subsequently translated into English by Karnad himself, this play was adequate to earn for Girish Karnad a guaranteed place among the Indo-Anglian dramatists.
About this play, Karnad has written, “When I came to Tughlaq I said oh! Marvellous! That is what I wanted. In those days existentialism was very much in the air. To be considered mad was very much fashionable. Everything about, Tughlaq seemed to fit into what I had read was the correct thing to do, which was to be mad and to do impossible things and so on. So I started reading about Tughlaq. But as I started reding about Tughlaq I suddenly realized what a fantastic character I had hit upon. I started with Ishwari Prasad and then went on to all the contemporary material and suddenly felt possessed, felt this character was growing up in front of me. Certainly Tughlaq was the most extraordinary character to come on the throne of Delhi, in religion, in philosophy, even in calligraphy, in battle, war-field, anything we talk about he seems to have outshone anyone who came before him or after him. After that writing the play was not difficult at all.�
In this play, Girish Karnad has followed some conventions of the Company Natak. About this Karnad says, “In the Company Natak I had seen all scenes were divided and alternated between deep scenes and shallow scenes.
The shallow scene was usually a street scene and was kept for comedy. While the shallow scene was on, the deep scene was prepared for a garden, a palace, a dance, whenever the ads were being changed. While the set change was going on, in the shallow scene you had comical characters.
This is what I attempted there because in a shallow scene you have comical characters, and crowds; it is actually a degeneration from Shakespearean kind of play-writing really.
And then the curtain opens and you are in the palace. The characters of the play were clearly divided into those which came into shallow scenes and those which came into deep scenes.
At least the first half of the play was written like that, and as I went on writing the play, the form developed on its own.�
About this play, Karnad has written, “When I came to Tughlaq I said oh! Marvellous! That is what I wanted. In those days existentialism was very much in the air. To be considered mad was very much fashionable. Everything about, Tughlaq seemed to fit into what I had read was the correct thing to do, which was to be mad and to do impossible things and so on. So I started reading about Tughlaq. But as I started reding about Tughlaq I suddenly realized what a fantastic character I had hit upon. I started with Ishwari Prasad and then went on to all the contemporary material and suddenly felt possessed, felt this character was growing up in front of me. Certainly Tughlaq was the most extraordinary character to come on the throne of Delhi, in religion, in philosophy, even in calligraphy, in battle, war-field, anything we talk about he seems to have outshone anyone who came before him or after him. After that writing the play was not difficult at all.�
In this play, Girish Karnad has followed some conventions of the Company Natak. About this Karnad says, “In the Company Natak I had seen all scenes were divided and alternated between deep scenes and shallow scenes.
The shallow scene was usually a street scene and was kept for comedy. While the shallow scene was on, the deep scene was prepared for a garden, a palace, a dance, whenever the ads were being changed. While the set change was going on, in the shallow scene you had comical characters.
This is what I attempted there because in a shallow scene you have comical characters, and crowds; it is actually a degeneration from Shakespearean kind of play-writing really.
And then the curtain opens and you are in the palace. The characters of the play were clearly divided into those which came into shallow scenes and those which came into deep scenes.
At least the first half of the play was written like that, and as I went on writing the play, the form developed on its own.�
Sign into ŷ to see if any of your friends have read
Tughlaq.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Started Reading
February 27, 2021
–
Finished Reading
April 29, 2021
– Shelved
February 23, 2024
– Shelved as:
plays-classic-and-modern
February 23, 2024
– Shelved as:
of-girish-karnad
