About The Event
‘Hunkaro’, is a performance piece devised just after the second wave of COVID 19. There was an urgent call within the theatre company to come on floor and construct a performance as a reflection of what the world has endured. The idea of the piece came into existence with a simple yet disturbing realisation that the lockdowns have reduced not only the attention span of people but also the capacity and need to listen. ‘Hunkaro`, literally means a verbal affirmation, a response from the listener to the storyteller that she/he is listening, comprehending and is travelling with the story. Since Lockdown, there is an insatiable hunger to consume visuals and noise which leaves very little to no room for listening. And if there is no listening, Hunkaro cannot exist.
But are we ready to listen? It is said that listening is an art, so just like many other art forms, is this one too losing it`s beauty and necessity? But the world lives on hope and indeed, hope is the thread that binds this performance. With these thoughts, Hunkaro was born. The performance, while laying a strong emphasis on the beauty of Rajasthani language, does talk about the aesthetic value of languages in general, importance of the uttered word as well as the art of listening. The piece is replete with songs which come from the centennials old Manganiyar tradition but avoids musical instruments, once again underlining the spoken word.
An intriguing weave of 3 stories talk about what strength, hope can instil and how life without hope is impossible to sustain. Out of these three narratives, two are from young contemporary Rajasthani writers and the one which basically lays foundation for the performance is by renowned Rajasthani writer Vijaydan Detha. Performed by 6 trained actors, the piece mainly in Marwari and dialects of Hindi, Punjabi runs for 85 mins. World renowned Manganiyar musician Hakeem Khan Saab is helming the musical front of this performance. Designed and directed by Mohit Takalkar, this is the third offering by Ujaagar, Jaipur after ‘Kasumal Sapno’ and ‘ Mukaam Dehru Jila Nagaur’.
About the group
Ujaagar Dramatic Association is a theatre company comprising of performers based in and out of Jaipur. The group established in 2013 strives to rejuvenate the fading culture of Rajasthan through theatrical performances. The idea behind it was to introduce an array of performative styles to experiment with new texts and performance. Ujaagar’s ‘Kasumal Sapno’, ‘Mukaam Dehru Jila Nagaur’, ‘A Girl Who Shot Her Doggy’, ‘Kahani-Junction’, have been staged across the length & breadth of India and has been showcased in a number of national and international theatre festivals. Music & language being an integral part of Ujaagar, the group aims to inculcate the sense of stage music in aesthetic terms to enhance the performance.
