KOCHI: Every gesture, every step and every nuanced movement is a brushstroke on the canvas of the audience’s imagination in the art of mime. For 25 years, Suresh Vishwanathan, who hails from Kalamassery, has been creating vivid scenes and evoking powerful feelings without uttering a word.
Mime is not everyone’s cup of tea, but this does little to stop Suresh who, despite being bound to a wheelchair, remains steadfastly committed to perfecting his craft, which requires months of composition and training.
In addition, Suresh and his team, Nice Play, also based in Ernakulam, are bringing mime to a broader audience. Their goal is to help students embrace the art form.
Over the years, Suresh’s teams have won six gold medals at the Inter-University National Youth Festivals. He trains about 30 teams every year, ranging from schools to colleges. It’s noteworthy that Suresh’s team had come first at the MG University varsity fest for ten years in a row.
“If you love what you do, nothing can stop you,” says Suresh, who was eight months old when a rare condition that inflicts one in nearly 2.5 million robbed him of his ability to walk on his own.
“I didn’t think much about it when I was young. I’d go fishing, play football as a goalkeeper, and participate in drama competitions with my walker,” he recalls.
Initially, mime was a way for him to avoid classes. “To avoid trouble when one of my teachers caught me skipping classes, I lied about having to attend a mime practice. That was the beginning of my journey,” Suresh adds.
Today, the 43-year-old diligently oversees theme generation, script creation, music composition, student training, costume selection, and makeup application.
“It was my teacher Ratheesh Bhaskaran who taught me to be open and straightforward while working. From him, I learned that art is my passion and not a profession,” he explains. Suresh’s first work, Joker, which portrayed a clown’s life, earned him his first national award.
In a noisy world, Suresh Vishwanathan stands as a beacon of quiet strength, proving that artistry knows no bounds. Despite the confines of movement, his spirit soars with boundless creativity.