The history and current status of Tamil musical plays was the subject of discussion at a programme organised by Sampradaya, as part of their Samvada series. S.M. Isaiarasan, president of the Muthamizh Nadaga Nadigar Sangam, was in conversation with veteran theatre artists Koothapiran and Vadhyar Raman.
Isaiarasan is from Pudukkottai, home to several stage actors who could and can sing. Isaiarasan's grandfather, Uyyavandan, and father, Solaimalai, had also been in musical plays. This family tradition is being carried on by Isaiarasan and his son.
Koothapiran gave a brief introduction to musical plays.
Plays these days use dialogue to get across the story. But musical plays used songs as the medium of expression.
Vadhyar Raman made the pertinent observation that
Tamil drama had its origin in therukoothu. From therukoothu, which had music, dialogue and dance, to special dramas that dropped the dance component, to latter day dramas, which gave both music and dance the go-by, the process has been a slow metamorphosis.
Sankaradas Swamigal
Musical theatre came into its own only when Sankaradas Swamigal wrote plays based on mythological themes, with suitable songs throughout. Sankaradas Swamigal, who had learnt music from Mamundiya Pillai, even specified the raga for each song. He wrote 64 plays, which are the ones that artists such as Isaiarasan still enact. While the stories might have been mythological, the themes were relevant to the times. ‘Pavalakkodi,' for example, showed that women in power could be just as efficient as male rulers.
Isaiarasan said that no formal training in music was necessary for artists in this form of theatre. An ear for music and the ability to sing at a high pitch were enough. Every artist is familiar with Swamigal's songs. So an actor
from any part of Tamil Nadu can play any of the roles.
S.G. Kittappa would play the role of Valli and K.B. Sundarambal the role of Murugan in ‘Valli Thirumanam' Once Isaiarasan took up the role of Chandramathi in ‘Harischandra,' and even won the best actor award for it.
Vadhyar Raman had a valid point when he asked why Isaiarasan continued with mythological stories. Isaiarasan said artists had been provided with a template by Sankaradas Swamigal. But if someone came up with a good musical on a social theme, he was willing to give it a try. He admitted that in order to draw youngsters to musical theatre, he had to include the latest film songs in his plays.
The programme was interesting and informative but the auditorium was almost empty. Regretting the poor turnout, Geetha Rajagopal, Director of Sampradaya, said that she had sent invitations to all the drama troupes in the city, but except for Bhaktisaran, ‘Kathadi' Ramamurthy and Telephone Venkatraman, they did not attend. Those involved in Tamil theatre often complain about the lack of media attention for Tamil drama. But when it comes to supporting a programme that documents the history of their art, they are conspicuous by their absence.
