Kalavaram

A very happening riot!

A review by Sandya Krishna

It is rather commonplace these days for critics and the public to easily declare that the Tamil arts & theater scene is gradually dying, thanks to the meteoric rise of technology, movies and more. But Kalavaram, Naatak’s first tamil play, provides a rather thought-provoking and hilarious antidote to this ‘silent theater death’ predicted for the last so many years. What makes Kalavaram click is, it not only talks the talk, but also walks the walk, necessary to make a Tamil play a grand success in this day and age. Whether it is in the realistic characters, script, costumes, sets or just in its courageous move in presenting the play sans microphones, Kalavaram excels beyond anybody’s wildest expectations. If you weren’t at the performances of Kalavaram on August 4^th & 5^th at Cubberley Theater, Palo Alto, CA, you missed out on watching the true colors of a hard-working and determined cast and crew come alive on stage.

The story is a rather simple one of a city in heavy anticipation of a riot, predicted to happen in a matter of days. The politicians, rowdies, police and general public somehow manage to feed off each other and into the frenzy of the impending riot. These characters basically live for themselves more than they do for others and that is Kalavaram’s secret to success. The police inspector, the constable 421, the knife salesman Velu, the minister, the speechwriter, the chEri folk and pEttai rowdy Kabali, and just about every other character, mirrors (and laughs in the face of) Indian politics without any qualms. So, the climax isn’t daunting when bad indeed wins over good. With R. Umasankar’s painstaking tamil adaptation of the original Hindi play, Muavaze and adept direction by Mahesh Umasankar, Kalavaram manages to maintain its spice, humor and vitality for the majority of its 3+ hour run.

The cast and characters of this play are quite similar to the variety of items on a wedding breakfast/lunch/dinner menu J. Whether it is Munish Sivagurunathan’s stringent police inspector, Balaji Thirumalai’s Avan yengayo poiruppaan sir bumbling/yawning Telugu constable, Mani Ram’s Paal kudikkumJ Kabali, Alex Arulanthu’s knife dealing/wielding Velu, Anand Kalyanaraman’s scared stiff savudal Santhanam or even Govindaraj Haridass’ all-knowing, annoying Yogi, the color and flavor that this cast generates is diverse and memorable as the kaaram, inippu, and pulippu items in a giant wedding feast. Each of these characters played with skill and enthusiasm are only further highlighted by Sanjeev Sayeeraman’s veththalai vaai Paranthaman, Mani Sundaram’s all knowing, all cunning speechwriter Paneer, Srikanth Anandal’s shrewd businessman Gajapathy, and Rammohan Padmanabhan’s wife-adhering Rajaram. Balaji Natarajan, Uma Maheswari, Kumudha & Mahesh Umasankar shine in their respective roles adding significantly to the overall quality of the proceedings.

Despite all the raves, many in the audience groaned when the Yogi character entered stage. It seemed that this character had very effectively become irritating, annoying and unbearable to the audience, much to Govindaraj Haridass’s credit. It is a fairly thankless job to earn and sustain audience irritation, but Kudos to Govind who seems to have handled it with ease and confidence! J Similarly, Savudaal Santhanam played so naturally by Anand Kalyanaraman, stuttering during the course of the play, once or twice, didn’t appear out of place either. Obviously Santhanam’s bounce-a-thon from one knife-wielding baddie to another, is enough for any man to be scared out of his wits! J In the same breath, two different scenes involving the chEri folks need to be scrutinized. The initial decision by Muthu, Jeeva & Yogi to sacrifice Maari’s life for monetary riot relief of Rs.10, 000, followed by the long drawn oppaari/discussion scene after Maari’s supposed slaying are two situations that hurt Kalavaram’s pace immediately. In general, long melodramatic scenes don’t jell well in a well-paced play. But in Kalavaram’s case, it ends up being the sole blackmark L. In the very near future, when this play is staged again, it would be ideal if these portions were trimmed to maintain the taut storytelling style.

All said and done, aside from its excellent cast, much of Kalavaram’s success lies in the hands of the entire production team. The police station set-transformation into a home, the amazing tea-stall set (with kuppai thotti and all) transformation into a kudisai (the Kaakki Sattai, NadOdi Mannan movie posters, magazines, soda bottles, tea glasses, got everyone reminiscing! J) the constant, tedious and dedicated moving of furniture/props in sync with each of the scenes are just a few instances of the hard work put in by the production team. Idhu dhaan pambaram-aaga suththi velai seiyvadhaa?!! – an admirable effort indeed! J The outfits, including baniyan, lungi, belt (Kabali), inspector uniforms, minister shirts, veshtis, fake moustaches, beards…. the inventory list keeps mounting; the meticulous attention to detail and love for perfection was apparent as characters jumped on and off the stage. Everyone was dressed for success, thanks to the make-up/costume efforts by Saritha Sundaresan & Shobha Rengarajan. On the other hand, music isn’t really an intrinsic part of Kalavaram’s stage journey and yet, an entire team was assembled to provide an original and authentic background score to suit the situations. No show/movie tunes here and no compromises either J. J The light & sound team of Srikar Srinath and Hari Lakshminarayan provided their fair share to keep this play smooth flowing till the very end.

In the era of running and flying horrific creatures on hollywood screens, or masala flicks with 6 songs, a baseless comedy track and senseless violence in kollywood screens, Kalavaram goes back to the basics where pure, simple and traditional entertainment was born: The Stage. It treats its audience as an intelligent, educated group…. and that is a rarity these days. It is my fond hope that this play will be staged again for those who missed it here last weekend. Not so much that audiences would get a chance to see the play, but more so that Kalavaram, its cast and crew, deserves repeated applause and appreciation.

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