Copyright thehindu
Tamil playwright, activist, and theatre exponent Pralayan has a crew full of young and talented artistes starring in his latest play Vanapechi (Queen of the forest) all set to premiere at the Provoke Theatre Festival on November 2. When asked about what it is like to work with the Gen Z, the founder of Chennai Kalai Kuzhu, a group which began 40 years ago, Pralayan admits in jest that the “boomer uncles” and those perceived as older, cease to have a vocabulary that can engage with them in depth. Yet, his belief in a fundamental truth, sets him free. “I know that they are attracted to the truth,” he says. In his consistent attempt at this truth telling, something that has sustained his theatre troupe through times in the 1980s when sedition cases against theatre artistes by the Tamil Nadu government were rife, he brings to the world his new play starring actor Rohini in the lead. Vanapechi tells the tale of Thadagai from the Hindu epic Ramayana. In Valmiki’s version of the tale, she is a rakshasi, a monster or a witch. She is slayed by the hero of this tale, Rama. Yet, Pralayan subverts this narrative. “This story is told from Thadagai’s lens. She is a metaphor for Nature. In the epic, she is ‘disfigured’ or ‘distorted’ by Rama. This is an injustice to someone who merely wanted to protect the forest. The play, in the urban context, speaks about the steady disfiguration of Nature. We need to act now as climate change is steadily becoming an urgent global concern. It hopes to make the audience rethink our most fundamental questions -- who are we and where are we headed,” he says. When asked why Indian theatre artistes and writers keep going back to storied epics, Pralayan replies that these tales, which encompass some history and a heavy dosage of myth, are often only told through the lens of the victors. “In this play, we challenge that perspective. Indologists have repeatedly written that there are over 300 versions of the Ramayana. We do not want to impose the same arbitrary values that [in this case] Valmiki chose to say. We want to ask questions about it. Thadagai was technically wronged. Who is she, if not a hero,” he says. To him, his artistic choices inform his politics and vice versa. However, his creative expression always takes precedence over politics, he says. “Invariably, they are one,” he adds. Pralayan chose to cast actor Rohini, who has starred in countless Tamil features including the likes of Magalir Mattum and Marubadiyum, because of their continued association since 2006. The two had met at an event by the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writer’s Association where Rohini was being felicitated. It was director Balu Mahendra who suggested he meet her. “After a while, when I worked as an assistant director and writer with actor Kamal Haasan, particularly during the time of Virumaandi, did we begin interacting again. For many years now, she has been acting in plays by Chennai Kalai Kuzhu. She is now, the lead in this play, he says. Actor Rohini, who is intently steeped in rehearsing her lines with her colleagues at Mindscreen, their rehearsal venue, says that world over, cinema’s greatest actors have gone back to their theatrical roots and allowed the audiences to understand the full extent of their acting potential. Yet, Tamil actors seldom take this pathway, limiting themselves to the celluloid. “I’ve been trying to change that for myself since 2010 because I have observed that some of my most favourite actors, including Nasiruddin Shah, are products of theatre. Through Thadagai, I wish to tell people that Nature isn’t meek. What gives us the right to be masters of it. I don’t think she will wait to strike back,” she says. Art is, perhaps, the most efficient way to communicate this fact, she adds. Catch Vanapechi at the Provoke Theatre Festival on November 2 at The Music Academy, TTK Road. Gates open at 5pm and entry is free.
