A visionary who brought Kannada theatre from Udupi to Hyderabad
The Hindu
Biography Full Many a Gem chronicles Gundu Rao's journey from financial difficulties to Kannada theatre success in Hyderabad.
It was financial difficulties that compelled Karody Gundu Rao to relocate to Hyderabad from Udupi in coastal Karnataka in 1950. But his first love — Kannada theatre — stayed with him. In the place he relocated to, he not only rebuilt his livelihood, but also a new world of Kannada theatre.
A recently released biography of the theatre maker by his son Karody Niranjan Rao, Full Many a Gem, chronicles this unusual journey. It looks back at how Gundu Rao came to be known for building an audience who participated in and admired Kannada theatre in Hyderabad. Gundu Rao managed to draw an audience of 800-1000 for his plays in Hyderabad.
Gundu Rao’s theatre journey in Hyderabad started under the banner Kannada Natya Ranga, which he founded in 1968 and he ran it until he died in 2010, says Niranjan Rao. His book brings alive days and moments in the 50-plus glorious years of his theatre journey.
Starting his theatre journey at the age of 12, Gundu Rao was the grandson of popular Udupi-based theatre and Yakshagana artiste Karody Subba Rao.
Gundu Rao wrote his first play in 1934, a children’s play titled Draupadi Swayamvara. He organised the play by roping in all his cousins and playmates. He wrote another children’s play, Muppina Maduve, in early 1935. As a child artiste, he acted in a social play titled Seva Sadan, presented by the neighboring village’s graduates.
Gundu Rao grew up in an atmosphere imbued with music and theatre. He listened to the soulful natyasangeet of Bal Gandharva, Baburao Pendharker and other well-known luminaries of the Marathi stage. His son says he had a good singing voice and had learnt Hindustani music as well as instruments such as tabla from his grand-uncle, Karody Madhava Rao, who stayed at Kuthupady, Udupi, for many years and learnt the harmonium from his father, Karody Narasinga Rao.
Speaking to The Hindu, Niranjan Rao said of the circumstances under which the family moved to Hyderabad and what happened there, “We were a family of six, but when we moved to Hyderabad, it was just my parents, my brother and I. Our father decided to move to Hyderabad due to financial issues. Though we had some agricultural land, it did not yield much. He wanted a new start, and when we were contemplating moving to Bombay (now Mumbai) or elsewhere, he decided to move to Hyderabad. He took up many different jobs there, but parallelly did theatre, introduced Kannada theatre to Hyderabad and eventually started his own troupe.“
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