How the stage adaptation of the poet’s Panchali Sabdham to SV Sahasranamam became a huge success
11 September marked the death centenary of the poet Subramaniam Bharathi (although it says 12 September on the official death certificate). His works, which span a wide range of subjects such as nationalism, philosophy and society, have inspired the art world and found representation in the form of songs in films and theater productions, thematic dance productions and vocal performances. One of his most famous works was Panchali Sabdham, reproduced as a play by theater veteran SV Sahasranamam’s Seva Stage.
Born in 1913 in Singanallur, Coimbatore, Sahasranamam ventured into theater at an early age, joining the Bala Shanmukhananda Sabha, which in its later incarnation became the TKS Natak Sabha run by TK Shanmugam and his brothers. making his film debut with maneka In 1935, Sahasranamam made a film career spanning more than four decades, becoming one of Tamil cinema’s most celebrated character actors. However, theater remained a constant companion in his journey; He founded his drama troupe Seva Stage in 1952, which marked the beginning of an era of experimentation with social themes in Tamil theatre.
Seva Manch’s first play
The first play organized by the troupe was pauper, which was the Tamil adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s short story vision. This was followed by another pilot venture, irulum oleum, which had four actors and four scenes. He experimented with a revolving stage for his next play. vanavili, a novelty for Tamil theatre. Sahasranamam also got famous writers from the world of Tamil literature like BS Ramaiah and Thi. Janakiraman to write plays for the troupe, which had many famous film actors like Muthuraman, Devika, SN Lakshmi and Pandari Bai. In 1957, he founded a drama school, Sewa Stage Natak Nilayam, to teach theater to aspiring artists.
In his memoirs, thirumbiparkirenSahasranama says that he was deeply in love with the works of Subramaniam Bharathi and used to read Panchali Sabdham Frequently. The idea came to his mind that the powerful language used in the work would become an appropriate lesson in pronunciation for the students of his theatrical school. So he worked on a version where he only retained the dialogue between the various characters, eliminating the usual parts of the work. With the inputs of BS Ramaiah, the project took shape. Sahasranama then introduced elements of acting in it to teach his students along with proper pronunciation of the verses.
TK Shanmugam, a visiting faculty, witnessed the training one day and suggested to Sahasranama that it could well be made into a full-fledged poetic-drama performed by Seva Manch. Around this time, Tamil Nadu Iyal Christian Nataka Mandaram decided to organize a drama festival with four types of plays – historical, mythological, social, poetry-drama. Shanmugam proposes to stage Panchali Sabdham Under the last style and was accepted.
script with verses from Panchali Sabdham Written by BS Ramaiah. During the rehearsals, Sahasranamam arranged sessions where poet Tiruloka Sitaram addressed the actors and discussed the nuances of the verses. He also invited playwright SD Subramaniam Yogi to explain how poetry-drama is done abroad. All these sessions proved to be extremely beneficial for the actors.
The play was inaugurated on February 15, 1959 at Congress Ground and was a huge success. Muthuraman played the role of Duryodhana, while AK Veerasamy, a senior troupe member, played the role of Dhritarashtra. NR Shantini from Kerala played the role of Draupadi, while Sahasranamam played the character of Subramaniam Bharathi. In later shows, Sahasranamam played the role of Yudhishthira. After Shantini, the role of Draupadi was played by film actor Gandhimati for a long time. Former Chief Justice of Jharkhand Justice M. Karpagvinayagam, who was a member of Seva Manch in his student life, also acted as Bharathi and Arjun in the latter show.
The play was staged all over India. It was later recorded at the Delhi Doordarshan Kendra, becoming the first Tamil drama to be broadcast on television. It was also staged at the Tagore Centenary Celebrations in Calcutta. When Sahasranama led a cultural delegation to Russia in 1960, he took with him an audio version of the play, which was delivered to a Moscow radio station. He later learned that it was aired twice.
In 1968, Sahasranamam was awarded the title of ‘Bharati Kalainar’ during a performance of the play in Tiruchi. Of all the awards and honors he received, this was the one he cherished the most till his death in 1988.
The author is a heritage lover and amateur Tamil theater artist. Sahasranamam’s son SVS Kumar
Gave input for this piece.
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