Avid AIR listeners of the 1970s and 1980s would have constantly heard the name of Muthusubramaniam. He produced plays and presented programmes. Quiet after retirement, he has returned to the stage with ‘Paname Idhu Poyyada,' a play he has directed and for which he has written the story and dialogue.
The story is set in 1990, when the V.P. Singh Government has just fallen. But as the play progresses, one realises that the theme is so old fashioned that the setting should have been moved to, say, the early 1970s.
The plot
Rajappa (Saravanan) vows not to marry a working woman, because he thinks working women snatch jobs away from men. But Cupid has other plans for him, and he falls in love with Kala (Jayanthi), who also has a soft spot for him. She pretends that she has resigned her job, and marries Rajappa. When Rajappa finds that Kala has lied to him, he is livid. His grandfather Natarajan (Vasudevan) points out the fallacies in Rajappa's arguments. Rajappa realises his folly and the story ends with everyone smiling happily.
The story plods along painfully. The characters are unconvincing. Natarajan tells Rajappa that a wife's salary will come in useful if there is a crisis in the family. But he could have convinced his grandson before the marriage so that the conflict would not have arisen. Again, how come this shrewd old man wants a jobless Rajappa to get married?
The bold and liberated Kala conceals the fact that she is a working woman. She is against chauvinism and social vices, why does she say that a woman has to earn in order to be able to give a dowry and to meet marriage expenses? Sankaran (Muthusubramaniam) tells Rajappa that his anger against working women is a psychological problem. But a few minutes of cogitation is enough for him to have a change of heart; no counselling involved here.
Natarajan with his gnomic lines was the only one who did some acting, although he was for the most part inaudible. However, Sardarji and Saravanan showed some animation. The rest of the actors hardly had expressions on their faces.
This writer caught up with R. Muthusubramaniam, the founder of Prayoga Theatres that staged the play. Excerpts from the chat:
Did you do any innovative plays for AIR?
For my play ‘Neengal Ninaippadu Pola’ I came up with four possible endings. Bharaneedharan (Marina) gave this play a good review in Ananda Vikatan.
Have any of your radio plays won awards?
In 1989, when I was Programme Executive, my play won a merit certificate in the Akashvani Annual Awards. No play of Madras AIR before that or subsequently has won any such award.
Your association with stage plays…
I was founder member of S.Ve. Sekhar’s Natakapriya. In fact the puja for the inauguration of the troupe took place in my house. Even rehearsals used to take place at my house. I also acted in plays with V. Gopalakrishnan and V.S. Raghavan.
About your renewed interest in theatre…
I have started Prayoga to stage a new play every three months, to conduct theatre workshops, and to provide training in script writing.
