CHENNAI: A writer who revolutionised Tamil literature, a member of the CPI who didn’t shy away from reflecting his political views in his works, and a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award — Ki Rajanarayanan, aka Ki.Ra, is etched in the hearts of his readers as a strong storyteller who sticks to his narratives and style of writing despite the vehement opposition from contemporaries and critics. Through the use of colloquial language in his works, Ki.Ra questioned the correct form of language. Celebrating Ki.Ra is celebrating the world of Tamil folklore and his revolutionary ideas. In his centenary birth year, Art Kin Centre Chennai collaborates with multi-disciplinary artistes and presents KIRA 100, a series of events to pay tribute to him.
“Naan mazhaiku than pallikoodathil othuginen. Othungiyavan pallikoodathai parkamal mazhaiye parthukondirunthukitten. (I stayed in school because of the rain. Instead of paying attention to the classes now I am watching the rain.),” actor-dancer Vaanmadhi Jagan quotes KiRa. She says, “Ki.Ra proves that academic qualification does not make a man knowledgeable. He has contributed so much to literature and also ended up becoming the professor at Pondicherry University, Drama Department, with an academic qualification of eighth standard.” Vaanmadhi, influenced by his craft during the lockdown, introduced his works to Anahata Sundarmurthy, the founder of Art Kin Centre.
“He was extremely good at portraying complex emotions, especially female emotions, through his words. Hailing from Kovilpatti, he was also known as ‘Karisal Kaadu Mannan’, as the village was termed as ‘Karisal Kaadu’ due to drought. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis at a young age and had to give up so many things like learning music and playing instruments because of his illness. He talked about the struggles of marginalised people before the arrival of the British. He documented oral traditions of south India,” Anahata says.
Siruvar Kadhaigal, children’s stories from Ki. Ra’s Collection was the first series event planned and performed in March by Vaanmadhi with music by Sri Krishna Sridharan. Even though most of the folklore he wrote is outdated, the artistes emphasise that there is a need to tell those tales to understand the situation during the olden times. Vaanmadhi says, “Ki.Ra was way ahead of his times but the stories he had documented showed the situation back then and the tales he had heard and observed. While re-telling these stories we make additions but the core structure of the performance remains the same.”
In the coming months, there will be storytelling sessions by Vaanmadhi at government schools including Gurukulam – Trust Children School, Kovalam. An art exhibition of hand-drawn paintings based on KiRa’s stories curated by Anahata and Sahana Santhanakrishnan is also on the cards.
On the birth anniversary, September 16, Art Kin Centre hopes to organise a theatrical performance by Vaanmadhi, Janaki Sabesh, Vikram Sridhar, Preethi Bharadwaj, Samanvitha G Sasidharan, and members of Magic Lantern Theatre, Chennai, Sri Krishna Dayal and Vivek. Through these events, Art Kin Centre, a platform that caters to all forms of art, hopes to spread love for Tamil language, storytelling and Ki.Ra’s world. For details: @artkincentre on Instagram.
WRITING STYLE
The candid treatment of complex topics is one of Ki.Ra’s specialities. His short story Gomathy is an important early work in Tamil literature that speaks to the queer community. Anahata says, “His introduction of spoken dialect in the writings made a lot of authors uncomfortable. He also wrote the dictionary of the regional dialect called ‘Karisal Kaatu Sollagarathi’. Through his style of writing, he spoke to a whole new set of audience, making the language easy for everyone. His stories, Current and Kidai were made into Hindi and Tamil movies respectively.”