How Yakshagana is adapting to modern times

Acclaimed performer Shivananda Hegde continues to tell stories with vigour and passion

They say the preparation for the journey into the spotlight happens in the green room. It couldn’t have been truer in the case of Shivananda Hegde. On February 3, 2009, when he walked into the green room, he was unaware of the huge responsibility that he would be bestowed with. His father, the renownded Yakshagana artiste Shambu Hegde, had suffered a heart attack during a show and summoned his son to the green room to crown him successor. On the stage, just minutes before, Shivananda had played Shatrugna while his father played Rama in Lava-Kusha Kalaga that was being performed at Idagunji Mahaganapathy temple. According to Yakshagana tradition, the lead actor’s crown must be personally handed over, failing which the crown cannot be worn by the successor. It is like a coronation ceremony. The Idagunji Yakshagana troupe has been performing consistently at the temple for several years, and Hegde thinks it was truly a miracle that his father’s last performance also happened at the temple.