Artistes of Shree Devi Bhagwati Paramparik Dashavatar Natya Mandal perform the Dashavatar (the 10 incarnations of Vishnu) — a traditional theatre art form that has an 800-year history — every year in the city. On Day 2 of Navratri, mid-day’s Rane Ashish captures some extraordinary scenes of this vital display of tradition
A performance underway
A performer waits for his cue
Thirteen artistes — Pritam Anant Keluskar, Guru Tamhe, Gurunath Dhuri, Sanket Rane, Bunty Kadam, Santosh Mistry, Vishwadeep Tamhe, Sachin Parab, Prashant Malav, Chirag Nandgaokar, Bablu Gurav, Mangesh Asolkar, and Siddhesh Gurav — from the Konkan areas of Maharashtra are part of Shree Devi Bhagwati Paramparik Dashavatar Natya Mandal that is run by Prakash Pandurang Labde. They are all Mumbai- based and work as technicians, managers, electricians, auto drivers, delivery boys, office boys, accountants and photographers.
One of the performers in full Ganesha gear
The best part about their performances is that no one knows beforehand what role they will play; this is revealed to them merely an hour before the play is staged and gives them enough time to dress up and do their makeup. Each one of the artistes is an expert in all 10 roles and can emote at just a moment’s notice.
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