CHENNAI: The world’s a stage and we are all actors in it — you half expect Kudanthai Mali to be obsessed with that classic line. The nod is a giveaway but heart of heart, the one which is firmly enmeshed in him is the masterpiece of literary wizard George Bernard Shaw — We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
That set the tone and tenor of the hour-long conversation over a steaming cup of filter coffee (it has to be Kumbakonam!). Awards and accolades (good enough to consume an A4 sheet) sit lightly on the octogenarian, believing in the old dictum that the show has to go on, the more the odds, the more his determination.
Early days
Mali owes everything to Ma. Po. Si, who christened the young stage actor N Mahalingam, to read the best of Tamil literature, when he was a student in an English medium school with Sanskrit as the second language. “During my college days in Vivekananda College, stalwart NKT Muthu played a huge part in my strides. The urge to write and stage my plays was prompted by the encouraging words of Muthu and there was no looking back,” he recalls.
Mali’s debut play Thanthai En Deivam had all the trappings to spread a positive vibe, the audience was quick to notice the arrival of a talent bank. Authoring 21 plays and dramatising 17 novels and short stories of popular writers, with 4,000-plus shows is an apt reflection of the sway he had on the audience, who saw him as a crusader for the common man.
Kadavul Engae? showed Mali in a different light. The play had all the drama, adapted from the prize-winning short story of AK Pattusamy in Ananda Vikatan. For him, the defining moment was in thespian actor Sivaji Ganesan’s words of appreciation on the stage and a request to pen a script for him in a movie. Not to forget NKT Muthu’s word of apology on the stage as to how he initially doubted if Mali could do justice to the winning efforts of the writer. The play created enough ripples, adding to the lustre being the musical score of G Ramanathan to the songs of T M Soundararajan, PB Srinivas, K Veeramani and the peerless TS Bhagavathi. “The icing was when MGR and doyen of theatre, TK Shanmugham, called me to shower with encouraging words and wishes for further laurels. What else a debutant could have asked and bargained for,” says Mali with enthusiasm belying his 87-plus summers.
Beyond controversies
Dramatising Na Parthasarathy’s Kurinji Malar was an early feather in Mali’s cap. The play focused on the values and virtues which the teens imbibe early on. Interestingly, chief minister MK Stalin played the lead when the drama with the same title was made into a television serial.
Controversies invariably and inevitably chased Mali when his forthright and frank ways did not gel with a particular section of the community. The most play that caused him endless agony was Gnanapeetam — a roaring success but met with flak by a section of the people, where his message that anyone blessed with wisdom could be destined to be crowned irrespective of caste was not well-received.
Mali’s day was made when the late President APJ Abdul Kalam, warmly appreciated Nammavargal, which swept many awards for the boldness with which he saw the Hindu-Muslim unity with the culprits being the ones with political interest to grind. “That was the time when communal unrest was at its peak and the play went a long way to soothe the feelings and a balmy effect to all concerned,” he notes.
More than an Oscar
Chased by success, eminent artistes like Sundari Bai lent credence and credibility to Mali’s plays, being with the troupe for well over 15 years. “When you hit the ball hard, it comes back with double speed and luckily did not boomerang for me. The audience lapped up all my offerings and yelled for more. More than all the awards, the ones which keep ringing in my ears are the claps at the end of all my plays. That is more than an Oscar for me as in those times when sustaining interest in stage plays had gained currency with the advent of actors moving over to cinema,” he shares.
Mali’s penchant to give life to seemingly trivial things lent a lot of charm to his plays. Poi Sollum Devathai based on Gandhian principles of forgiveness to show the other cheek was cheekily presented with his brand of humour sliced with trueness. The short story of famed writer Thiruppur Krishnan was the start of a fruitful association, which has spread wings over the years. Nitharsanam, based on the feasibility of inter-caste marriage was hailed from all quarters, walking away with the drama of the year award in 2015.
Sixty years on stage and counting, Mali is not tired. For him, every new play is a new baby, deserving to be given the best of everything.
The show must go on is an adage which he has lived up to his reputation and billing. Longs for the day he is if the corporates could take up the cudgel and protect the stage. “There is life in the stage which every artiste longs to smell. Once you have smelled it, the addiction stays with you for eternity,” he philosophises.