To say that Srinivasan Anand is ‘the go-to man in Tamil theatre’ could well be the understatement of the decade. A late starter in his mid-40s, the affable artiste has pitched in his bit by acting in 325 plays spanning over 1,000 shows.
At the relaxed pace of his career, Srinivasan says the most remarkable compliment is being called the Abadhmandavan (crisis man) by his friends in the theatre fraternity. He has lost count of the times he has come to the rescue at the last minute. The one he remembers was donning the act of a Hindi master for a play of Mapillai Ganesh.
He recalls, “I just had a mere glance of the script before slipping into the costumes but could not afford to slip the lines. Three scenes were on me where I had to recite a poem too.” His theatre background came in handy then.
In his school days at Santhome Higher Secondary and college in Loyola, Srinivasan was part of the annual plays. “That went a long way to shed the stage fright. I had the memory of an elephant to remember the lines which made the job easy.” However, there has been an instance when he forgot the lines. He had to recite a few lines of Avaiyar. “Well, the experience helped me to wriggle out of the tight spot when I hit upon the idea of delivering the lines — the worth of which the whole world is aware.”
Another interesting moment, Srinivasan fondly recalls, was in the play Thirumoolavar. A 10-year-old boy absconded before his scene forcing Srinivasan to extend his dialogues and add some imaginary lines, including a song. These are special moments, he says, that linger in his mind.
Srinivasan has played the role of an uncle, a father, a priest, a family counsellor, and an elder Statesman of the family. Satisfied by the diverse roles and the learnings that have come with it, he says, “Even though it brought me satisfaction, I secretly longed for more. Thanks to the interesting scripts penned by aspirants, variety was never in short supply. There were instances where the writers had me in mind while shaping the characters. A few liberties could be taken with the dialogues which only enhanced the final product.” Strongly believing in being a director’s artiste, Srinivasan says half the battle is won when the actors learn apt body language and follow the course of the play.
Among his memorable roles, the one deep in his heart is the character of Maruthanayagan in the much sought-after play Pulithevan. He says, “Joining hands with the warrior Pulithevan, Maruthananaygan fights the Britishers in an extended battle.” H e attributes the essence of the character to the powerful lines of Adhuthurai Bhaskar. “It is the dialogue writers who are the unsung heroes of any stage play. The artiste can afford to forget his lines and do the quick shuffling act, but for the lightman and music composer, there is no such luxury. It is all teamwork and every artiste will remember to finetune his mind to handle any crisis.”
Narasimhar is a play where Srinivasan was at his best, donning the dual role of Indiran and Narasimhar. “I had to be at my subdued best to get the better of a master tactician in Hiranyakasipu played by Bala Sundaram. As the head of Devas, the job was on me to stop the King of Asuran from getting the powers of the Almighty. The audience still loves the historical scripts and can only nostalgically rewind to the bygone days when the plays of RS Manohar and Heron Ramasamy drew the audience like a magnet. Staging historical plays is expensive but the likes of Bala Sundaram and Shivprasadh are doing it to keep the legacy.”
Acceding that the onus is on the writers to come up with fresh ideas, Srinivasan says the play Edhir Veenai brought to light the advancement of technology. He played a deaf and dumb character, Devaraj, who attemps to find the perpetrator who had raped and murdered his daughter. “The writer hit upon the idea of my (Devaraj’s) son inventing a device where my feelings were mirrored through the effect of a sound. The audience could connect that and there was no stopping the congratulatory messages which poured in from all quarters,” he explains.
He deems the applause from the audience as an Oscar of Theatre. However, he values the Best Character award from Kartik Fine Arts for the play ‘Thayumanavan’ in last year Kodai Nataka Vizha. “As the senior member of the family, the uncle character had to reason out with the others that it was not a crime for someone at the age of 60 to become a father. One has to respect, revere, and rejoice the age-old family values —was the message in the long 15-minute climax,” he says.
In his long innings, Srinivasan has rarely donned comic characters. But then, he was up for the task when Kudhanthai Mali decided to give a fun twist to the politician character in the play Achamondru Ellaye. “Honestly, it was a new thing for me and my heart was in the mouth — if the audience could accept that new avatar after having always seen me play serious characters — I was happy to put things in order, “ Srinivasan says.
When asked about the type of characters that have eluded him, he says, “Secretly, I am longing to do a negative character which could bring an unknown side of me. An artiste gets an extended space in negative shades and these days, the audience simply love such acts. Possibly, I may do that in my home banner Theatrix Stage Crafters which was started last year.”
On the production venture, he hopes to open the doors for new aspirants, especially the youth. “You need to have the backup for sustained patronage of the audience,” he notes.
Recollecting both his personal and professional life, Srinivasan acknowledges that he is blessed to have the support of his wife, Bhargavi, and son, Dhanush. “My biggest critic is Bhargavi, motivating me to do better. I guess, with such support and having her take care of the house, it is a lot easier to focus on the right place.”
Srinivasan is someone who has balanced his job in an MNC and is following his passion. As a parting note, he shares his words of wisdom. “Keep going with the flow. I am listing out the plays of the month on social media, resulting in an increased patronage. The show has to go on and the numbers can only increase with innovative ideas. The responsibility is on the younger generation and we are only too happy to pass the baton on,” he concludes.