It is such a satisfying feeling when a high intense family drama incorporates deep philosophical concepts in its narrative. Raja Mathangi productions’ Sathya Vakku on day three of the drama festival organised by Mudhra, brings in the exact same feeling. The subject of the play is the Dikshitar community whose members are the direct descendants of one of the 3000 sages from Lord Shiva’s abode.
Set against the backdrop of Chidambaram, that is home to many legends of Lord Shiva, the story revolves around Vishwanathan Dikshitar (Ravi Kumar) who is married to Karpagam (Shri Lakshmi), collector of the Cuddalore district. Starting out as an investigative account of the community, the play gains momentum when Dharmaraj (Prem), a politician starts to meddle with the affairs of the temple. It is this meddling and low self-esteem nature of Vishwanath’s character that creates a sense of tension in his family. Neck-deep in conflicts over his marriage and his services to the lord, the character tries to set his conscience right throughout the play.
Ravi Kumar, who is also the producer and director of the play, has shown that he belongs to the stage, with his varied range of emotions and dialogue delivery. Shri Lakshmi fits the role of Karpagam perfectly, as she projects herself as a well-educated woman ready to face any problems thrown at her. Despite a few hiccups in the execution, the crew injects abundant energy into their performances through the entire duration of the play.
The sets designed by Padma Stage deserve a huge mention, as there were lot of change-ups. Though, it seemed there were restrains on the use of sets due to limited space, the backdrops which were used, captured the very essence of traditional ambience of the play. Packed with double ententes on politics and relationships, the story line gambles with the introduction of fantasy at the end.
Though the play touches on a number of concepts that could be difficult to grasp, there are other sub plots to keep the audience entertained. Overall, the play is all about revisiting the culturally tuned aspects of the Dikshitar community.