Vijayawada: There is no limit for artists, drama

Vijayawada: One Gadde Srinivas planted a seed 'Abhinaya' two decades back and now it has become a large tree with many branches and its name also becomes Abhinaya Srinivas. 'The Hans India' interacted with him and shared his experiences in theatre.

"I was fascinated towards theatre with three incidents which I occured in my life. During my childhood, I used to watch the drama 'Brahmam gari cheritra'. In that drama, two comedy characters attracted me and I used to render the dialogues even in my house. All the people appreciated my way of delivery and expressions.

That drove me to look towards theatre and later when I was 18- year-old, I was given a comedy role in the play 'Galivana', written by RVS Ramaswamy. The character was well received by the audience and I decide to join theatre. The third incident was joining a theatre diploma course in Deekshit Master school. That's how theatre became my destiny," said Srinivas.

Gadde Srinivas was born in Ponugupadu (Guntur district) to Venkateswarlu and Koteswaramma. He did his graduation and also a Media Acting Certificate course (MWA). With his inclination towards theatre, he started 'Abhinaya' cultural organisation and later he expanded Abhinaya's arena to many branches like publishing a monthly theatre magazine, conducting drama competitions, organising multilingual theatre festivals, workshops, telecasting dramas and conducting online discussions on theatre.

Srinivas acted in many plays like Galivana, Aasrayam, Kokkorako, Samadhikadutunnam Chandalu Ivvandi, Nanna Puli, Devudu, Sri Krishna Tulabharam, Narada samsaram and others. Though he is acting, his mind and thoughts are on to organise some innovative programmes related to theatre. Srinivas convinced the officials to conduct 'Multilingual theatre festival' in 2006 and he continued this festival till now.

"After watching many dramas which have the same sets, lighting, and music, I thought of organising a multilingual festival, which will educate theatre personalities too. This festival helped the theatre persons to improve and update our talent in the areas like stage designing, lighting schemes, music and many," he said.

"Initially, I started this in one place and now Abhinaya is conducting dramas at three places -- Hyderabad, Tirupati and Guntur. In addition, Abhinaya also organised drama festivals in Nizamabad, Ponugupadi, Hyderabad, Narasaraopet, Bangalore, Vizianagaram, Bhimavaram and Guntur. About 400 plays were staged in these festivals. Almost all language plays were staged in the multilingual festivals being organised by Abhinaya," revealed Abhinaya Srinivas.

Even though Covid-19 was rampant, Srinivas did let the deadly virus to pursue his passion and organise the festivals. He organised online multilingual drama festivals, mythological drama festivals, national theatre seminars and also Telugu theatre seminars.

Srinivas has also appeared in film and TV serials. For his service to the theatre, many cultural organisations honoured him with titles.

"There is no limit for the artists and also drama. I am searching for innovations. If time and finance permits, I would like to do more events in coming years; I am grateful to the government bodies like Cultural departments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, South Central Zone cultural centre, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Andhra Pradesh Film, TV and Theatre Development Corporation and National School of Drama for their support to conduct all the events," said 'Abhinaya' Gadde Srinivas while concluding his interaction.