One of the many dazzling stages set at the Thimmarayaswamy temple in Basthalapalli village in Krishnagiri district, to entertain visitors to the temple festival through all-night dramas.

Actors are mostly farmers from surrounding areas. Being close to the Tamilnadu border, many are from towns and villages in Karnataka and Andhra, speaking a mix of all three languages.

The plays involve shimmery costumes and makeup. The larger stages have a bus which doubles up as a costume-cum-vanity van. 

Plays that involve a smaller stage or a tent - like the mythological drama 'Sasula Chinnamma' - backstage is often a tiny cloth enclosure behind the tent that doubles up as a stage.

Make-up artists work till way past midnight helping a steady stream of actors as and when their appearance is due on stage.

Since plays go on for 8-9 hours, two sets of actors play each role - one group to play in the first half and the next to play after midnight.

Most plays involve mythological characters and involve elaborate makeup with striking colours with a sprinkling of glitter. But the make up products are  un-branded colours mixed by the artists.

Young Raghu gets ready to play the part of a girl for the drama named 'Saasula Chinnama'. Traditionally male actors play the role of female characters, especially in plays like 'Sasula Chinnamma'.

Murthy changes into a saree for his female role in the play with the help of his wife and her friend. Plays mounted on a smaller scale - where the stage is small - backstage is a cramped place, with actors getting ready, their luggage piled up in corners, members napping before their turn and onlookers who freely squeeze into the tent. 

Plays based on stories from the Mahabharatha, had three  women among a cast of twenty four. Often the enclosures for them to get ready are dim and separated by a cloth. 

Jyothi waits to change into the role of Uttara, a character from Mahabharatha, after her dance sequence. Unlike men, women actors do their own make-up.

Women actors are expected to spend on their own costumes and makeup. A single costume can cost almost ten thousand rupees. Each artist needs several sets of costumes with matching jewellery. Good make-up products can cost two thousand ruppes every 2-3 months.

Padmamma, in the role of Kunti, on stage. She captivated the audience with her bold voice and acting abilities. Actors train for more than a year to learn a role and practice for years singing and reeling out lengthy dialogues in literary telugu.

While the larger stages are mounted at a height for better visibility and impact, smaller stages have lesser degrees of separation from their audiences. They manage with stand-mikes instead of microphones pinned to their costumes.

The mythological play 'Sasula Chinnamma' was held under a tent, where there was no demarcation for stage. Such productions make it possible for audiences to interact with their actors.

Audiences express their appreciation for performers by pinning rupee notes onto the costume of actors. A male actor enacting a female role in 'Sasula Chinnama' has several such notes of rupees pinned by audience members.

Audiences walk up to actors mid-performance, to show their appreciation. Artists, except women, pool in money to put up the productions during the Thimmaraya temple festival. It is an opportunity for them to showcase their talent to audiences.

The Thimmaraya temple festival also provides theatre managers and masters the opportunity to scout for good artists and musicians, to recruit them for subsequent productions in villages and small towns.

The allure of theatre starts young. 

Audience interest, improvisations by actors, songs, encores and long dialogues can mean that the dramas that start at around 8pm in the night go on till early morning. 

The stage often is an extension of a truck. When it is time for packup, the stage is folded onto the truck to seek its next destination.