PILLAR OF THEATRE PADMASRI NAGARATHNAMMA PASSED AWAY

Posted date: 07 Sun, Oct 2012 ? 05:42:26 PM

Padmasri award winner of last January 2012 the doyen of theatre and ‘Bheema’ in her performance R. Nagarathnamma passed away on Karnataka Bundh day at her residence in Rajajinagar. She was 87. Nagarathnamma with powerful voice made debut on stage at the age of 12 and the first one to star all women’s troupe Stri Nataka Mandali in 1958.

The roles of ‘Bheema’, Kamsa, Ravana and others she was portraying was a stunner. The modulation of her voice is good and high in pitch. The male performers used to feel ashamed of her performances.

I want to serve theatre till my last breath stated R Nagarathnamma when she was interviewed by the media in this year January on the Padma Sri award she got from the government of India. She received the Padmasri from the then President of India Smt Pratibha Patil in last April.

The record so far of Stri Nataka Mandali started by R Nagarathnamma was that all the characters of a play are staged by women.

Born in Mysore in 1926 for Krishna Bhatta and Rukmini, R Nagarathanmma shared the stage with Dr Rajakumar. Her power packed performances spread over to Manjunatha Krupa Poshita Natara Samsthe, Chamundeswari Nataka Samsthe, Hirannaiah Mithra Mandali, MV Subbaiah Naidu company etc.

Krishna in Krishna Leela, Bheema in Krishna Garudi, Balarama in Subhadra Parinaya, Kannappa in Bedara Kannappa, a thief in Sadarame, Sundar in Samsara Nauke were popular roles on stage from Nagarathnamma. She was called as ‘Simhini on Stage’.

Nagarathnamma husband Parthasarathy died a few years ago. She left behind a son and two daughters.

May her soul RIP from www.chitratara.com

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