Remember those good ol’ days when your ajji (granny) would narrate interesting stories and you and your cousins would listen to her with rapt attention? If you want to relive those delightful stories and become a part of the long lost art of storytelling, then you must get yourself hooked to The Kathe Project. A brainchild of Puneeth BA, founder of the Poster Boy Art Studio, this project features everyday webisodes with people in the city narrating their favourite tales. What was kicked off by actor Prakash Rai a fortnight ago, is now seeing a range of celebs and non-celebs sharing their kathegalu (stories).
“We decided to bring out stories that people have experienced — these are human interest tales which were part of their evening discussions in their earlier days. We wanted them to narrate anecdotes from their past or share thrilling incidents from their lives. Our idea was to bring their tales to the online medium,” says Puneeth. The project is open to the audience as well. All you have to do is upload your story on your Facebook timeline with the hashtag ‘#katheproject’. “Our initiative is the first-of-its-kind in the Kannada sector where we’re using Facebook to reach people through non-filmy content,” he adds.
The first episode featured versatile actor Prakash Rai’s real life story and managed to go viral. “It was from his pre-industry days. He shared that he was in love with a girl and he was inside a room with her when a friend came by and banged the door. He didn’t open the door and six hours later, he got to know that his buddy had committed suicide. He still feels guilty about not opening the door,” reveals Puneeth.
Singer Sparsha RK was another storyteller who managed to enthrall viewers with her childhood tale. “Nowadays, we’re so active on social media that we’ve lost out on stories we used to enjoy as kids. When the electricity would go off or when granny used to feed us, she’d tell us stories on the terrace. I’d also rush back home from school just to hear stories from my mother. What I narrated was a story from my mother’s as well as my childhood. It was about jade muni and ghosts. I still remember how my brother used to scare me with these tales. Till date, I’m scared of ghosts!” she reminisces.
For RJ Nethra, it was a story about Dr Vishnuvardhan that made it to her video. “Since it had to be something that takes us curiously down memory lane, rekindling certain emotions and also creates a theatre of the mind, I chose this particular one,” she says.
