In a packed Ranga Shankara auditorium (with producer Nimi Ravindran conscientiously paying auto fares to all those who could not get tickets and had to go home) on a Sunday afternoon, the second last show of Ajay Krishnan’s hit play Butter and Mashed Banana induced tears of laughter. And then some thought.
And how is this for a surprise. The tall and gangly Vinod Ravindran, played among other things, a coy woman with leftist leanings who falls for a right wing activist as both proceed to tear off a poster! He because the poster depicts a feminist and feminism is unhealthy and against Indian culture. She because the feminist in the poster is an insult to feminism!
More laughs follow as the ‘couple’ (its other half played by Gulshan Devaiah) proceed to have a baby (played hilariously by Vivek Madan) and feed him the father’s religious slogans and the mother’s Marxist propaganda. When he says, ‘Ma,’ his first word, the mother thinks, it is Mao, the father thinks, it is Ma Kali! Later the child is made to jump all the way to school because the parents can’t decide whether he should put his ‘left’ leg first or his ‘right’ !
The three actors morph into many things as the uproarious walk continues into the heart of India’s censored sense of self. In a scene that brought the house down, the censorship custodians want a scene deleted because of an almost there kiss and then discuss why “cleavage nuzzling” is acceptable because “if there is no line, it is all fine!”
Things ofcourse simmer to boiling point when the top political leaders in an unholy alliance join hands to muzzle freedom of thought, speech and more by banning among other things, dictionaries! Because they have dirty words that everyone can find the meanings of, easily and conveniently. The play laughingly reminded us that censorship of ideas is the beginning of the end of big and small freedoms and the actors danced, sang and played to the gallery while director and writer Ajay Krishnan served some guitar riffs on the side. 
Theatre with all its live energy is something Vinod Ravindran has cut his teeth on as an actor. He did a lot of theatre in school and college and worked exensively with veteran Kannada theatre director B Jayashree and the theatre group Spandana.
Spandana was a tough but rewarding training ground because here, the actors rehearsed everyday, did a great number of shows and even travelled far and wide. Vinod was a part of major productions like Jokumaraswamy, Lakshapati Rajana Kathe, and Karimayi -all directed by B Jayashree.
He travelled with the troupe to perform at the National School of Drama and in Mumbai at various theatre festivals. Later he worked with Atul Kumar of The Company Theatre( Moliere’s The Flying Doctor), with Deepti Sudhindra of Kimaaya(One Day in India), with Abhishek Mazumdar of Mayaavan (Lucknow 76), Ajay Krishnan of course and with Kirtana Kumar in Wedding Party. Currently, he is teaching theatre at an international school and continues to act and direct. We may soon see him in films as well.
He spoke to Unboxed Writers about his work and creative impulses.
How would you describe the experience of working with children?
You mean, theatre with children and young people? Assuming that you did, for one they do theater or most other activities only if it is FUN and this makes the entire process very very lively. And once you get them to think beyond television and show them the possibilities of theatre, their ideas and thoughts are fresh and original. Theater has helped me to face my prejudices and inhibitions and I think it is powerful enough to make one a free-thinker and I would like to share that idea with young people as well.
What kind of work are you looking forward to now, having done theatre for as long as you have?
I am open to doing work that challenges me in some way, is interesting and has something new to offer. I would love to work with more and more people and experience their different approaches to theatre/films.
The best part of doing Butter And Mashed Banana?
I guess playing at the Prithvi Festival was a really big high. It was Prithvi Theatre and to top it it was the annual theatre festival and then just to make it better as I got on stage, I spotted Habib Tanveer Ji in the audience. I think, we really had a blast that time performing at that festival.
Your personal take on the play?
The play is about censorship and the loss of freedom of expression, yes but as I see it, it is not just the story of the protagonist but our own. Especially in the context of our country and the way we deal with ideas that we don’t agree with and our false sense of protecting the mythical sentiments – be it about someone like Gandhi or a god or goddess. Someone’s sentiment is always getting hurt or at least we are told that it is. It has come to be that freedom of expression is not so much a right, as it is a privilege.
Butter and Mashed Banana plays in Jagriti Theatre, Bangalore on June 18 and 19.
Reema Moudgil is the author of Perfect Eight (http://www.flipkart.com/b/books/perfect-eight-reema-moudgil-book-9380032870?affid=unboxedwri )