They were overwhelmed with joy and every word they spoke closely related to drama. Murukesh Kakur and Kalamandalam Sandhya, husband-wife duo, hailing from Kakur in the district have reasons to cheer as they have bagged the 2012 state professional drama awards instituted by the Kerala Sangeetha Nadaka Academy this year. The theatre duo has won the best actor and best actress state award for their role in the drama ‘Kuriyedath Thathri.’
Thathri was a bold lady who disregarded the conventional thought in a male dominated society. The fairness and justice found in the smartavichara (trial for adultery) of Thathri was an aberrant one. At a time when men used to influence the trial with money and material and often managed to escape from severe punishment, Thathri produced visible and non-visible proofs. After the six month long trial as many as 64 men were found guilty in which two died and the King punished all the men involved in the affair. The drama has been performed on nearly 200 stages.
While explicating Thathri, the personification of boldness, Kalamandalam Sadhya became eloquent and profound and spoke from the depth of her heart. “For me it was a challenging role but I was confident on the acceptance of the Thathri among the audience,” she said. Unveiling her happiness to win the state award with her husband, Sandhya said the drama brought to fore the ill practices in the past and present society and sows the seeds of hope.
With close to 50 awards in state-level drama competitions, Sandhya is known among theatre buffs as Krishna Meera for her performance in the drama ‘Theerthadanam’ by Vadakara Varadha drama troupe. In her words, a performer can gain maximum exposure and experience in amateur troupes than in professional one.
Donning four roles as a eunuch, Kavumkal Sankarapanicker - a Kathakali acharya, Kuriyedath Raman - husband of Thathri and Vadakkedam Chomathiri - a smarthan in the same drama, Murukeshan Kakur easily won the hearts. “All the four characters in the drama Kuriyedath Thathri were visibly different in nature,” he shared.
On winning the state award Murukeshan said, “Though I have been in the field for the past 30 years, this is the first time that I participated in the state competition. I believe my hard work and efforts finally paid off. Awards, of course, have a powerful impact on a theatre actor,” he said, adding that it increases the responsibility of a performer.
Performing in nearly 100 of dramas, Murukeshan has become a star value actor in the theatre scenario. Going down memory lane Murukeshan said it was ‘Vagbhadacharyan’ of Thrissur Manappuram Karthika which brought fame to him. Murukeshan was 15 year old when he first acted in the drama named ‘Vrikasuravadham’ as Naradan.
Remembering his guru Madhavan Kunnathara, he said “For around eight years I worked as an associate of Madhavan Kunnathara and learned the basics of drama.” An artist cum freelance photographer, Murukeshan bid adieu to photography to focus purely on drama. He was part of the Kozhikode Mass, Kollam Kalpana, Kozhikode Kalinga and Vadakara Varadha. “The director of Vadakara Varadha, Pournami Sankaran, has played a key role in elevating my status as a theatre artist,” he adds.
“We are so much linked with drama. We tied the knot in 2000 after staging ‘Iruttinte Athmavu’ and ‘Thanneer Thanneer’.” After marriage the theatre duo have staged close to nine dramas including ‘Theerthadanam’, ‘Swapnathinethra Vayas’, ‘Snehayathra’, ‘Nanni gramam’, ‘Janapriyan’ and Aswathammavu’. Accolades are not new to the couple as they have already received NN Pillai Smaraka State Professional Drama competition award, Sreenath Memorial Award, Balan K Nair Memorial award and the list goes on.
(This article was published in The New Indian Express newspaper-14/06/2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment