My siblings and I grew up talking about stories, art, theatre, drama, acting, performance, and the variety that goes along with this world. A couple of days back; I was sitting with some of my friends and having coffee. One of our random conversations ensued and we were talking about formalizing our theatre group in college. The Chennai theatre is well-known to a minority in this city and even the "well-known" news is from one side of the multi-dimensional, multi-faceted field.
In the recent years, Chennai English Theatre has been hosting grand festivals, and trumpeting among the youth of the city. However, the more innate and rooted culture of Tamil drama, especially Tamil Comedy drama, misses a link with the youth.
I am talking about Sabha Natakam, a genre of Tamil language comedy theatre that started in Chennai, in the period following India's 1947 independence. It is this genre that ruled most of my time spent with my siblings. Most of these dramas are published as audio cassettes and were telecasted as TV dramas in Doodarshan. We would listen to them in the night, rattling off the dialogues before the scenes even started. The simple comedy and the mindless laughs were treasured by everyone who grew with the Sabha community.
In the early post-colonial period, every community was discussing about the Indian national identity, and the far-fetched model of this grand idea. Tamil Brahmins chose to emphasize their regional and caste identity with Tamil language drama, and thus started the story of Sabha Theatre.
Sabhas are typically cultural organizations or associations that sponsor, fund, and host classical music and dance performances, interspersed with dramas, debates, and sometimes, even religious discourses. Does this genre still exist? In fact, this genre is growing beyond boundaries with new narratives apt for the present situations of the state. Earlier, caste and language politics in Tamil Nadu were central to the shaping of this theatre. Now, environmental problems, moral tuitions, ancient philosophy, and political narratives seep in through the comedy. And through the years, the Chennai sabha theatre community has been sharing their writers, actors, and narratives with multi-lingual folk theatre, experimental theatre, television, and film.
Venkat is one of the famous writers who wrote for United Amateur Artists (UAA), S. Ve. Shekher, and variety of Tamil films. Y. G. Mahendra, with his UAA frequently brings theatrical debut scripts. Recently he staged Tantra Mukhi a psychiatrical spoof and Swadeshi Iyer about an old freedom fighter who tries to revive ahimsa. Crazy Mohan's Crazy Creations troupe staged Chocolate Krishna, a satire of theism and atheism, which used a lot of simple magic tricks and sound effects to enhance the divine characters.
The other major sabha natakam troops are Nataka Priya by S. Ve. Shekher (with his last play Mega Vasool, a political satire), United Amateur Artists by Y. G. Mahendran, Crazy Creations by Crazy Mohan, Rail Priya started by railway employees, and other troops run by Kathadi Ramamurthy, Gajendran, Leo Prabhu, and TV Varadharajan. This is an ever-growing pool of performers and probably new troupes are popping up and other old ones are getting revived, like R. S. Manohar's historical plays.
Every theatre enthusiast should get the flavour of this genre. It is different, laughter-inducing and enjoyable. There are many sides to the field of performance in Chennai; this is merely one side, but a massive part of Tamil Nadu political, and linguistic history.
