CHENNAI: The Tamil play Siva Sambo that has gone to 12 cities in the US, besides Doha and Mumbai, celebrated its 60th show on its first anniversary on Monday at the YGP Auditorium, Bharat Kalachar. While this is a milestone for the theatre group Maham Enterprises founded by Madhuvanti Arun, who is also the producer of the play, she tells us that this year, they plan to take it to more places — the Gulf, Singapore and Malaysia. “Despite this being an all-out Tamil play, the response we got from the audience in the US was amazing. At the end of the play, they gave us a standing ovation,” says Madhuvanthi. Maham Enterprises is said to have collaborated with the local artists in each location in the US, by conducting rehearsals via Skype, so as to make the play more interesting for the audience.
“While we will keep performing Siva Sambo, we will also be working on our new play Perumale, which was launched at the event, this year,” says Madhuvanti. While Siva Sambo is based on Rajinikanth’s yesteryear classic movie Ninaithale Inikkum’s Shambo Shiva Shambo, Madhuvanthi says, the story of Perumale cannot be revealed.
Siva Sambo, which is directed by debutant director Sureshwar, who has done 125 films as a child artiste and has over a decade of experience in the film industry, is about young Indian IT folks living away from home in the US. However, they still follow Indian customs, rituals and celebrate festivals. The play, according to the artiste, is an eye opener for elders in every family to appreciate their grown up children and their work relationships. It drives home the message that youngsters can uphold culture, tradition and respect for man-woman relationship even while living together as part of work. The play is also credited to have its music scored and sung by music director M S Viswanathan.
The guests for the evening included Y G Mahendra, singer Vani Jayaram, writer Siva Sankari, actor Delhi Ganesh and theatre artiste A R Srinivasan.
