Prashant Narayanan had an unenviable task at hand, when he set out to do Mahasagaram . He had to dive deep into the ocean that was M.T.Vasudevan Nair’s oeuvre, not get lost and come back for air, holding up characters and moments that would be representative of MT’s works. That he manages this feat speaks volumes about the command that he has over the stage.
Mahasagaram staged at the Tagore theatre on Monday, brings alive more than thirty characters from twelve of MT’s works, short stories, novels and films scripts among them.
According to Narayanan, the drama is an occasion to relive memories of these characters for those who have read the works. He also wants it to be a window to the world of MT for those from the younger generations, who are yet to get introduced to his works.
This was Prashant’s second attempt at bringing MT’s works on stage. The first attempt happened last year, for the MT Literature festival in Kozhikode, in the presence of the writer. He has tweaked and chipped the play a bit before bringing it here. He has also a bunch of professional actors with him this time, including Surabhi Lakshmi, Nisthar Ahamed and Bineesh Kodiyeri.
As Kuttyedathi , Surabhi Lekshmi makes the audience empathise with the sufferings of a woman in a society which judges her for her physical appearance. Nisthar Ahamed won applause for his performance as Velayudhan from Iruttinte Athamavu .
Finance Minister T.M.Thomas Isaac, who was among the audience, said that the idea of the play brought back memories of the previous year’s State budget for him. He has strung together a number of moments from MT’s works to present various schemes in the budget.
Contemporary life
“Many expressed doubts when I suggested this idea, as they thought these works written in a different time might not be suitable to represent contemporary life. But, on the contrary, one or two lines from these books was enough to make clear the intention of each project. It is important to re-imagine and re-tell these stories and even our old myths, at a time when these are being misinterpreted to spread regressive ideas,” said Mr.Isaac, who also promised the government’s support for such cultural initiatives.
