A
historical romance that pre-dates a thousand years,
A work of
epical proportions that brings to life in ‘flesh and blood’ the historical
valour, culture, love and might of the Tamils from the glorious Chola empire, in
all its charm,
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Vaanar Kulathu Vallavarayan 'Vandhiyathevan'
|
A work that
in over 2400 pages spread over five volumes of ‘well-wrought’ ‘mighty lines’ of
Kalki, and celebrated as one of the finest modern works in Tamil Literature, has
an impact that outlives its milieu,
A work
that, [like Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities mixes fact with fiction], blends
fact with fiction with such ease and alacrity that Poonkuzhali, Murugaiyan, or
Nandini or Mandakini ‘transfix you for eternity’ like the factual ones do, in
the novel!
When such a
legendary work comes alive on stage in your own backyard, who on earth would
want to give it a miss?
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| Periya Piratti and Madurantaka |
Well, YES…
we – a bevy of besties - were all in attendance at the Vani Mahal even an hour
before the start of the play this last Sunday evening – a pleasant day at that –
when the weather gods were kind enough not to play truant – and blessed us with
their cosy evening ‘winter winds’, that we were promptly cajoled into taking a
quick ‘detour’ to the next door Pothys for a hot cuppa filter coffee to drink
of the caffeinic delights thereof down ‘to the lees’!!!
After
coffee, we walked down Vani Mahal, and we were doubly delighted to see the eponymous ‘students’-saviour’ aka ‘Rain Man’ Ramanan who was also part of the spectacular array of
spectators. The moment he was ‘spotted’ by his enthusiastic fans amongst the crowd,
curious eyes and smiling faces made a beeline to him and vied with one another
to get themselves clicked for ‘posterity’! One lady – a part of the ‘frenzied
groupies’ who had gathered around him – says, ‘Sir, we miss you. You shouldn’t have
retired!’ He acknowledged her gracefully and replied with his trademark smile, ‘Everyone
has to retire someday, Isn’t it?’
A few yards
away, we could also spot a few other celebrities including ‘Crazy Mohan’ and
the like. But what surprised us about the Sunday evening, was the extraordinary
presence of teenagers and families alike – who had sacrificed their ‘Sunday
delights’ to come and witness a historical saga brought to life in front of
them.
Though
previous performances of the play by many troupes couldn’t ration the length of
the duration of the play to less than four hours, the TVK Cultural team has
done enormous spadework in bringing down the duration of this epical play to a
span of just three hours! Kudos to them on that!
Although the story revolves
around Arulmozhivarman’s return – the prince who later went on to become King Raja
Raja Chola] Vandiyathevan, the handsome, dynamic and valorous young man dominates
or rather steals the show spot on, right from scene one!
The story shuttles with
consummate ease between different locales – be it the seashore with a
lighthouse for a backdrop, or the high seas where there’s a mighty and
disastrous tidal wave, or in Sri Lanka, or in Nandini’s antapura, or
Madurantaka’s fiefdom, the make-believe canvass is quite believable! The
flipping between scenes doesn’t take much of time, with scene-changes rarely
take more than 15 seconds each, what with the light fading and black outs
adding depth to the changes!
The love scenes between Kundavai
and Vandiyatheven are graceful with a soulful number propping up as a regaling
backdrop! The vassals, serfs and petty chieftains also play their part with
elan!
There were a few guffaws too
at intermittent places, as when Periya piratti says, ‘surely you will get a
place only in heaven oops in hell!’ when the audience was in splits! There were
no dearth of guffaws too!
Achebe’s TFA has a wonderful
line in the opening chapter, thus: “Among the Igbo the art of conversation is
regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten”.
This line holds good for the ancient Tamil society whose conversations were almost
always interspersed with wise and witty proverbs that serve as ornamental
decors to their verbosities!
Presenting below a few proverbs
and sayings that I was able to pick up from the play:
கை புண்ணுக்கு கண்ணாடி எதற்கு?
அரண்டவன் கண்ணுக்கு இருண்டது எல்லாம் பேய்!
தந்தையை மிஞ்சிய தனையனாக இருப்பான்.
தலைக்கு வந்த ஆபத்து தலைப்பாயோடு போனது!
அத்தைக்கு மீசை முளைத்தால் சித்தப்பா ஆகிவிடமுடியாது!
சூதும் சூழ்ச்சியும் அரசுக்கு எப்போதுமே வெற்றியை தராது!
“முடிசார்ந்த மன்னரும் மற்றுமுள்ளோரும் முடிவில் ஒரு
பிடி சாம்பராய் வெந்து மண்ணவதுங் கண்டு பின்னும் இந்தப்
படிசார்ந்த வாழ்வை நினைப்பதல்லால் பொன்னின் அம்பலவர்
அடிசார்ந்து நாம் உய்யவேண்டும் என்றே அறிவாரில்லையே”
வார்த்தைகள் வைரத்தை விட வலிமை வாய்ந்தது!
வைரத்தை கூட அள்ளிவிடலாம் ஆனால் வார்த்தைகளை அள்ளமுடியாது!
வைரத்தை கூட அள்ளிவிடலாம் ஆனால் வார்த்தைகளை அள்ளமுடியாது!
Right from romance, to comedy and action, you’ve got everything in rationed
proportions throughout the play. Since it was their 50th
performance, the organizers had earlier announced that there wouldn’t be any
breaks whatsoever. But needless to say, none of us among the packed audience of
spectators (from row A to Zee), could fathom for ourselves how quickly the
three hours flitted us by in a jiffy!
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Ponniyin Selvan - in five-volumes
|
From eight year olds to eighty-year olds, almost everyone was there with
utmost concentration – Spellbound, transfixed, and waiting for the subsequent
scenes to unfold with bated breath!
A few characters steal our hearts! Be it Vandiyathevan, or Nandhini, or Poonkulazhi
or Kundavai or the old King who is sick in bed, or the host of nobles and chieftains!
They lay claim to your hearts right from the first move!
What attracted everyone amongst the audience was the tremendous display
of discipline and coordination amongst the artists!
Well, it was indeed heartwarming to see the astounding reception
accorded to a mighty historical romance in Tamil, made into an equally absorbing
play!
A dignified tribute to a legendary artist!
Testimony to the fact that, the universality of Kalki would indeed stand
tall tall tall beyond the confines of the ravages of the kala called ‘time’!
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