Description
Featuring two essays by Pragya Tiwari & Ashutosh Potdar
Ramu Ramanathan’s plays serve like a scalpel in dissecting the contemporary socio-political reality with an oblique eye on myths and history. The two plays in this volume serve as the best example of the sharpness of scalpel which he has been wielding untiringly for more than three decades. It requires great courage and commitment to swim against the stream of popular culture for such a long time. — Satish Alekar, playwright
Both these plays can be described as an ‘account of the vanquished’ or a spirit-song of the dispossessed. Through Cotton 56, Polyester 84, Ramanathan skillfully recreates a lost city, bringing to life the loves and friendships, the cultural inheritance and the politics of mill workers who fought for their ideas and lost, while in Comrade Kumbhakarna, he offers a trippy, contemporary take on ancient battles that will have to be fought in every age. — Annie Zaidi, novelist and playwright
These two plays delve into recent history and distant mythology to critique the present scene, and expose the power structures that dominate us. Ramu Ramanathan’s unique theatre idiom consists of ordinary people, the conflicts and confrontations they face, lucid dialogues laced with humour, and a sharp understanding of theatre space. — Maya Pandit, author and translator
The narrative strategy is seductive — history as told directly by its witnesses – and borrows information and stories from A Hundred Years, A Hundred Voices, the excellent oral history of the Mumbai mill areas by activists Meena Menon and Neera Adarkar. — Time Out
The play covers a large canvas starting from the United Maharashtra and Left trade unions, describing the days when the dignity of work and the working class determined the cultural milieu. Despite the adversity, the characters rise above their situations, with dignity and stoic acceptance of reality traits that render them poignant and real at the same time. — Hindustan Times
Cotton 56, Polyester 84 tells a grim tale. But it tells it with such lightness and glee! Who can resist a tale that combines friendship, romance, drama, and laughter, and promises the ennobling effects of tragedy at the end. — Karishma Kram
The play emerged from real interaction with the workers who are now obsolete in the new civilisation. — The New Indian Express
It is an important piece of theatre, chronicling the history of the city and doing so at an apt time. — Mumbai Mirror
Comrade Kumbhakarna does not give us a history lesson, instead, it intrigues the audience with the curiosity to learn more about the issues raised. — Millennium Post
Ramu Ramanathan writes in English, using subjects that Indian English dramatists rarely touch: in this case, an itinerant village troupe enacting stories from the Ramayana. One of them, as Kumbhakarna, proud of his family roots in Periyar’s Self-Respect Movement, proceeds to subvert the mythological heroes by portraying them as flawed. — The Telegraph
From the dark recesses of the stage comes forth a troupe of performers to create and inhabit an imaginary world which is at once ancient yet contemporary, impoverished but dreamy, profane and vulgar, and yet at the same time immensely poetic and beautiful. — Mumbai Theatre Guide
The father in the play complains to his wife, “There are more lights in your play – than in our life. You put halogens on stage – but there’s darkness in the slums”. And the mother in the play screams back at him, “We need food in our stomach. Not ideas in your head.” Comrade Kumbhakarna subverts the mythological character and uses him to explore the nature of the times we live in. — The Hindu
Oppression is what the play deals with, and Kumbhakarna proceeds to subvert the mythological figures his plays portray, which leads to him being branded a rebel by the government, and his subsequent arrest. — Hindustan Times
Ramakrishnan Ramanathan, popularly known as Ramu Ramanathan is an Indian playwright with acclaimed plays to his credit. His list of plays includes Mahadevbhai, Cotton 56, Polyester 84; Jazz; Comrade Kumbhakarna; and Postcards From Bardoli as well as Ambu & Rajalakshmi. His book 3, Sakina Manzil And Other Plays, is a collection of eight plays, published by Orient Blackswan in collaboration with the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU). Besides playwriting, Ramu Ramanathan is the editor of PrintWeek and WhatPackaging? magazines. He has been associated with the print industry for 30+ years. He has four books to his credit. 3, Sakina Manzil And Other Plays, which is a collection of eight plays. And two collections of poems with Red River, My Encounters with a Peacock and To Sit on A Stone and Other Shorts. His fourth book is Mumbai Murmurings, which is based on his theatre experiences in Mumbai. He has also co-edited Book Binding with Adhesives along with P Sajith and Babri Masjid, 25 Years… along with Irfan Engineer and Sameena Dalwai. In addition, he regularly pens columns for newspapers. He is most likely to be cheering for Fulham Football Club in his free time.
