Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is famous for his witty and ‘punch’ dialogues. In 2019, when he was in a political campaign in Kagwad, a man sitting in the front row before the stage started answering him for every sentence. The man, under the influence of alcohol, was uttering ‘Howda Huliya’ (Is it so, Huliya?) for every sentence that the former CM said on stage. Though Siddaramiah told the man to stop it, the video became viral, and so did the dialogue, Howda Huliya! It became such a rage that Siddaramiah invited Peerappa Kattimani, the man who blurted the viral words to his home in Bengaluru.
Now, two professional theater companies in North Karnataka have come up with a drama named ‘Howda Huliya’, which is a massive hit. Sri Guru Hucheshwar Natya Sangha Kamatagi and Ghanamanteshwar Natya Sangha, Kuntoji both are performing this drama in various places of North Karnataka. In the past two years, there have been around 2000 shows, which is huge for these small scale drama shows given the technology era.
The play has also been uploaded to YouTube in 3-4 parts and they have a minimum of 40,000 views. This shows the popularity of the drama both online and offline. Mahesh Kallol of Kallol village in Chikkodi taluk wrote a play six years ago and named it ‘Manasidra Maari Nosu, Nenapaadra Phone Maadu’ (Translation: Look at my face if you like or else call if you miss me). The play was renamed as ‘Howda Huliya’ after the dialogue became famous. It also has a character named ‘Siddajja’ which is super hit.
Fayaz Karjagi, secretary, Sri Guru Hucheshwar Natya Sangha Kamatagi said, “We generally camp at one place for two to three months and do regular shows. But this drama ran housefull shows for six months in Mahalingapura alone. Such is the fame of ‘Howda Huliya’.”
Jyoti Mallesh Kallur, owner of Ghanamanteshwar Natya Sangha Kuntoji, another troop performing the play, said, “The play has no double-meaning dialogues. Hence it is catering to family audience including kids. Youth coming in large numbers is a very good news for us. We are glad that the current generationis fond of plays.”
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