A dance-drama, ‘Veeramangai Velunachiyar,’ based on the life of freedom fighter and Sivaganga ruler Velu Nachiyar was staged in Madurai on Tuesday.
Minister for Finance P.T.R. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Minister for Commercial Taxes Moorthy felicitated the writer and director of the play, V. Sriram Sharma, and the artiste who played the lead role, Manimegalai Sharma.
Collector S. Aneesh Sekhar, Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth, Corporation Commissioner Simranjeet Singh Kahlon, MLAs A. Venkatesan and M. Boominathan and over 500 people watched the play.
Mr. Sharma told The Hindu that over 60 artistes participated in the play, which had vivid narrating and eye-catching performances that transported the audience back to the 18th century.
“Apart from the protagonist, her husband and the king of Sivaganga Muthu Vaduganathan, the queen’s commanders Periya Maruthu, Chinna Maruthu, Colonel Abraham Bonjour, the first martyr in Sivaganga Meetpu Por, Udayaal, and the queen’s aide Kuyili are the vital characters in the play and history itself,” he said.
The dance drama comprised songs, composed by HMV Raghu and Mr. Sharma and sung by popular singers such as Nithyasree Mahadevan and Saindhavi.
“It is a great honour that the State government had recognised our efforts of researching on the forgotten and only freedom fighter who recorded victory against the British and had a natural death at the age of 66,” said Mr. Sharma.
The play was the fruit of his research for 20 years in materials which were purposefully hidden by the British, and her valour was reduced to a single line in history textbooks, he said.
“I found a few pages of Natchiyar from local libraries to Connemara Public Library, Chennai, as her rule from 1780 to 1796 was not recorded much and it inspired me to write a play on her,” he added.
The play would be staged in Tiruchi on August 27, Coimbatore on August 28 and Sivaganga on August 31, said a press release.
