Flame of the Forest

29.06.2007

Went to "Flame of the Forest" a play inspired by Kalki R Krishnamurthi's epic novel Sivakamiyin Sapatham. Took my children Srija(13) and Srivatsan(8) with me, as I thought they would benefit from the exposure to Kalki's works. As it turned out Srivatsan became ravenously hungry towards the end of the play and started whimpering and groaning!Srija sort of went to sleep around that time! I am sure they imbibed Kalki's great words at a subconscious level!

My first acquaintance with Kalki's works was when I was seven; Sivakamiyin Sapatham was serialzed in Kalki. My Tamil wasn't that good then and my mother used to read the words aloud to my sister Sreekala and me. This was a weekly ritual as we followed the adventures of the young Paranjyothi (Truly the D'artagnan of Tamil Novel genre!) and his mentor Mahendra Pallavar. We recoiled at the evil machinations of the bikshu Naganandhi;We laughed and cried with Sivakami; we were suitably amazedat the elephant bridge used to ford a river; we rejoiced when Mamalla and Paranjyothi finally conquered Vathapi; and finally as Sivakami sublimates here unfulfilled love for Mamalla in the effulgence of Lord Shiva as Nataraja we wept and smiled at the same time. What a story!

Ponniyin Selvan, is definitely more intricate. But Sapatham has stark character portrayals that are indelibly etched in our memory.

That was why I was eager to witness the play which would hopefully bring alive these unforgettable characters. This it did. The playwright cum director Gowri Ramnarayan appears to be clearly aware of the impossibility of telling the entire tale in one hour forty five minutes. So she has deliberately chosen to highlight certain characters and events. I think she has done this correctly. Mahendra Pallavar(Deesh Mariwala) walks tall and majestic. Paranjyothi (V Balakrishnan) is an exact portrayal of the brash young hero who becomes the mature Nayanmar Siruthondar later on. The two Sivakamis junior and senior are exquisite and bring out the pathos and determination of the eponymous heroine. The scenes where both are portrayed together are truly artistic. The young girl giving perfect and faster hand movements while the older woman goes through the motions gracefully yet slowly.

We can say a lot about what was not covered! But what was portrayed was true to the original and representative of the master's work. The divine songs of Appar and Kalki were the true bonus for the evening. Especially Appar's Namarkum Kudiyallom and Kalki's Maraven, maraven.

Including Bharavi's slokha extolling Kanchi as Nagareshu Kanchi is a device that added variety as well as humour to an otherwise serious play.

The grand finale where Sivakami surrender's to her Lord was exquisite. The words Thalai Pattal Nangai Thalaivan Thale! would ring in the ears of true Kalki fans for a long time.

I wish they had had a small interval. There was more narration than acting. This meant that the audience sometimes felt slightly bored listening to a long dialogue narrating important events which could have bben better portrayed on scene. The cast could have been slightly larger instead. While V Balakrishnan is to be congratulated on his thespian skills of combining Paranjyothi and Pulikeshi, this could have been avoided. Poor Mammalla gets a walk in part towards the end! It was Just Them and nobody else!

The language preferred was English. This is indicates an enormous social phenomenon. The generation which read Kalki in the 60s, 70s and 80s was typically upper middle class! This generation is now us! We are either abroad or totally convinced that Hindi is the route to success. So our children are growing up without becoming experts in literary Tamil. For example my I trained my daughter Srija on tamil myself. She can read the Daily Thanthi! She knows a few select Kurals. But can she read Sivakamiyin Sapatham in Tamil? I doubt it. Those of us who are abroad asre struggling to keep our Tamilian roots alive.While our children are experts in Carnatic Music and Bharatha Natyam, they cannot read Tamil fluently! English is the only vehicle for carryng the works of masters like Kalki to the next generation. So English it is friends! Yet hearing Kalki's immortal words in English gives the whole show a School Annual Day English Play feeling.

But let's congratulate the excellent attempt to bring Kalki's wonderful and lovable characters alive.