Extracted from the life of the epic characters of the Mahabharata, Bheemaparvam is the tragedy of Bheema, the second of the Pandava brothers, who gains, through the author's ironic undertones, a new psychological depth. It ceases to become the story of supernatural heroes: it is a story of the life of ordinary human beings, fated to live in exile and destined to sail through the ocean of innumerable worries.

Bheemaparvam forces us to ask the serious questions that we brush aside while viewing the Pandavas’ journey to success. It is an attempt to read between the lines and explain the pregnant silences of the Mahabharata. It ruptures the binaries of good and evil, success and failure etc.

All the characters here have their own complex shades. The manipulation prowess of Kunti backed by the political mastermind Vidura, the self-imposed, almost fake justness of Yudhishthira, the tribal innocence of the Kattalas etc. exemplify this. All these are depicted through the memories of Bheema during the Mahaprasthan. The text ends with the realization of Bheema that it is not the heavens that one needs but the world he is leaving behind. He then turns back and steps down from the lofty peaks to the valley seen far below, leaving behind his dear ones.

To visualise the epic world through modern theatre techniques is a highly experimental project. Bheemaparvam makes very important suggestions to the unspoken but implicit polyphony within the Mahabharata. By looking from the viewpoint of tragical Bheema, the script not only de-centres the heroes but also opens up the many worlds that they simultaneously represent. Bheema thus appears as a rajasa character, led by primeval tribal connections. Why did his heart cry when the Kattala woman and her five sons were burnt alive in the house of wax? His love and marriage to Hidimbi, and his son Ghatotkacha deepen these connections… Kunti’s revelation to Bheema, who is curious about his lineage, about the ‘forest man who came like a hurricane’ brings him to the realization that ‘the demonic other’ resides not elsewhere but in one’s very self. All these sculpt the character of Bheema in profound complexity.

Bheemaparvam encompasses the ancient and modern psycho-social worlds at once. The play makes use of traditional art forms with modern theatrical designs and presents magnificent visual and musical experience.

On Stage		Back Stage
Bheeman	Anil Prabhakaran	Costume	Tarique Hameed, Raj Kumar, Bhasi Dwaraka
Yudhishthiran	Satheesh KG	Set/Property	Tarique Hameed, Uday Bharadwaj
Arjunan	Mohd. Musthafa	Music	Premjish Achari, Hima S, Satheesh KG, Sandhya Sankar
Nakulan	Sheron KPR	Lighting	Jose Koshy
Sahadevan	Shan Rahman	Lighting asst.	Kiran Pawar
Gandhari	Deepa VK	Stage Manager	Santhosh MV
Kunthi	Hima S	Asst. Stage Managers	Siddik Rabiyath, Manoj Thejaswini
Draupadi	Hameeda CK	Asst. Director	Vinod Kumar B
Draupadi (image)	Silpa Ravi	Script, Designs and Direction	Samkutty Pattomkary
Hidimbi	Sandhya Shankar
Kattalathi	Seema MP
Thozhi	Vandana MV
Yudhishthiran (image)	Pramod Puzhankara
Krishnan/Vidurar	Siddik Rabiyath
Sanjayan/Kripar	Vinod KK
Dhritharashtrar	Rajagopal
Hidimban/Naga 1	Raj Kumar
Naga 2	Tarique Hameed
Purochanan/Kattalan 1	Vinod Kumar PV
Khanakan/Kattalan 2/Dronar	Santhosh MV
Naga Guru/Kattalan 3/Ekalavyan	Manoj Thejaswini
Visokan/Kattalan 4/Arjunan	Manaf KK
Kattalan 5	Umar
Ghatolkachan	Babu CK
Vyasa/Group-1	Manish Kumar
Group-2	Uday Bharadwaj
Young Bheema	Sudev S Nair
Young Duryodhanan	Vishnu Anil
Young Karnan	Athul Babu
Young Dussasanan	Rahul Krishna
Young Ghatolkachan	Deepasree