A CLASSIC DRAMA OF ROMANCE AND POLITICAL INTRIGUE
The American actor, Willem Dafoe is quoted as saying that great theatre is about “ challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to. ” The ancient Sanskrit playwri ght, Śūdraka surely had some such aspirational ideal in mind– perhaps of the proletariat overthrowing despotic rulers and oppressive regimes– while penning his rivetingly absorbing pl ay, Mṛcchakaṭika. Some academics though believe Śūdraka just finished Bh ā sa's incomplete, fragmented drama, Vasantasensa . " ವಸಂತಸೇನ " (' Vasantasena' ), is a 1941 Kannada movie , a timeless, priceless classic based on Śūdraka's literary masterwork . S et in the ancient c ity of Ujjayini in the fifth century BCE d uring the reign of King Pālaka , the plot features the male protagonist, Cārudatta (Subbaiah Naidu), a young, penurious man. An affluent courtesan, Vasantasenā (Lakshmi Bai) sweeps Cārudatta off his feet during a chance run-in. The attraction is reciprocal. ...