“I had said many foolish things about him,” begins Prakash Belawadi, a famend movie and theatre actor, author and director, as he talks about his affiliation with Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa, who handed away on September 24, 2025, on the age of 94. Bhyrappa’s Kannada novels equivalent to Vamshavruksha, Nayi Neralu and Tabbaliyu Neenade Manage have been made into movies (most of which gained awards and accolades on the nationwide and worldwide platforms).
Bhyrappa’s Parva – A Tale of War, Peace, Love, Death, God and Man, acclaimed as a contemporary basic, is a retelling of the Mahabharata by way of private reflections of its principal characters. The story is about simply earlier than the Kurukshetraconflict and begins with the Madra king, Salya and makes use of monologues (a way utilized in theatre) as a literary method. Parva was tailored into a play by Prakash, who first met the legendary author, at a seminar.
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Bhyrappa with Prakash and the solid and crew of Parva
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“It was sometime before 2009, though I don’t remember the exact year,” says Prakash. “I can hardly call it a formal meeting. What I do remember is sharing the stage with him at the ‘Nudisiri’ event in Moodbidri, where I had to step in as a speaker at the last minute, after the scheduled guest failed to turn up. At the time, however, I was unfamiliar with his writings, as I was still deeply influenced by left-wing ideologies. But, my mother, theatre and film personality Bhargavi Narayan was a huge fan of his works. During my speech, I raised a question about why cinema faced censorship while literature did not. To which, Bhyrappa later responded, saying, ‘If filmmakers too made films responsibly, there would be no need for censorship’.”
In 2012, when Prakash occurred to learn the English model of Parva, he was was amazed {that a} author might be so daring. “I got his contact from journalist Vijayamma and reached out to him to seek permission to turn Parva into a play. He wanted to know if I would stage Parva as an all-night play or with each act staged on different days. He also asked, ‘I hope you won’t present Ekalvya and Karna as naxalites or Kunti as a feminist in the play’,” shares Prakash, including with fun that he virtually gave up the concept since it was troublesome determining how to adapt it to stage.
The ebook cowl of the English version.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
By then, Prakash had learn Bhyrappa’s Matadana “only because I had to act in T.N. Seetharam’s serial of the same name. I did not think the book was a great work, but then I read his autobiography, Bhitti, and was stunned by the man, the personality and his life. Then, I watched movies based on his books, Vamshavruksha and Gruhabhanga, and read Nayi Neralu as I had to write a review. In my review, I remember I wrote, Bhyrappa is a writer who writes without being surprised by life. It was immature on my part to even review his writing when I had not read all of his works and that hit me hard.”
In 2012, Prakash directed Yashwanth Sital’s Shikari, “which, like Parva, is also a stream of consciousness novel. So, I gained some experience in opening up the interiority in an external dialogic form.” Hence, when Addanda Cariappa, director of Rangayana, Mysuru, invited Prakash to direct a play for them, he selected Parva.
A scene from the play, Parva
| Photo Credit:
SUDHAKARA JAIN
“Though Bhyrappa lived in Mysuru, Rangayana had never staged any of his works. Parva brought me in contact with the writer, whom I first met at his residence in 2020. He again asked me how I would adapt it to the stage and said, ‘Please don’t add your left or right leanings to it’. I replied, “Sir, Parva is your interpretation of the Mahabharata. I will not reinterpret it, but will be faithful to your version and pick what I can for an eight-hour play. I will write the script, you read it, then let me know if we can go ahead. He agreed, read the script, loved it and Parva came alive on the stage.”
Prakash shares the three main components in Parva that hit him arduous.“First, Bhyrappa did away with all the boons. Second, he also found a way to rationalise the miraculous birth mentioned in the epic. Lastly, he humanised the characters, even calculating their age.” Besides these, what stood out for Prakash is the best way Bhyrappa treats girls in his writings. For occasion, Kunti’s views about Pandu and his virility and he failing to fulfil her sensual wishes.It is probably the most excellent facet concerning the novel.”
The director with Bhyrappa, at a dialogue earlier than the staging of the Parva
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“ Prakash factors out how one can not ignore the best way Bhyrappa has constructed the subaltern characters, who’re depicted as having utter contempt for the ruling class. He additionally questions the very concept of inheritance in Parva and raises it by way of Ekalavya.
A nonetheless from the award-winning, movie Nayi Neralu, tailored by Bhyrappa’s novel of the identical title and directed by Girish Kasaravalli.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Prakash says, “It was only when I read his work, I asked myself why did I ever write so foolishly about him. By then, his son, Uday, told me that many people had called Bhyrappa and advised him not to give me the stage rights of Parva. Bhyrappa’s acceptance of me and my script came as a blessing. I felt I had crossed an important threshold in theatre. Because Parva changed my perspective of theatre.”
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Bhyrappa, at his final present of Parva in Bengaluru
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Courtesy: Prakash Belwadi
Besides rehearsals, Bhyrappa had watched 12 reveals of Parva. In Bengaluru, on May 19, 2025, “We cancelled a present on a Friday and had to reschedule it for a Monday. After the present, I requested what number of had come on Friday and gone again. And Bhyrappa, from ‘J’ row, lifted his hand and an individual behind him took that memorable image. For me, it was probably the most humbling second.
