Kamban, the author of Ramayanam , said that his effort to portray the life of Rama is akin to a cat aspiring to drink the water of the ‘parkadal’.
Condensing the five volumes of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s Ponniyin Selvan , which ran as a serial for four years, into a three-and-a-half hour play is no mean task. As 2014 marks the completion of 60 years of Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan, Chennai-based production company SS International Live and theatre group Magic Lantern have adapted the novel for the stage. It will be performed for a week at Music Academy from June 8.
“We have adapted the novel in such a way that all the 55 characters we have culled out from the novel will appeal to the audience,” says Pravin, the director of the play.
Even though the title suggests that King Raja Raja is the hero of the novel, a slew of other characters, particularly Vanthiyathevan, Tirumalai alias Azhwarkadiyan, Nandini, Pazhuvettariyar Brothers, cast a magic spell on the reader.
“The adaptation has been done keeping in mind those who have already read the novel and those who are going to view it as a play,” says Mr. Pravin, adding that the one of the challenging tasks was penning the dialogues in standardised Tamil, considering the complexities of the plot of the novel.
It is Magic Lantern that first directed the play in 1999. “Actor Kamal Hassan watched the play in 1999 and suggested that we should bring down the duration to three-and-a-half hours. Carnatic singer Bombay Jayashree is also keen on involving herself in some way,” say D. Muralidharan and R. Ananda Krishnan of SS International Live.
The two persons who played an important role in the adaptation of the play are Elango Kumanan of SS International and his brother Kumaravel, who wrote the script for the play. Both of them are grandsons of late M. Rajamanickanar, an authority on Chozha history.
“We are also planning to organise an exhibition showcasing the historical details of the novel,” says Mr. Kumanan.
