CHENNAI : On the secret of his success, late Bollywood director Manmohan Desai famously said that he never gave the audience the time to think with his racy pace. However, this same formula has been the cornerstone in the success tale of Ratnam Koothapiran, a name to reckon with in Tamil theatre.
Having learned the craft from his illustrious father Koothapiran, Ratnam is quite happy with the journey. Statistically, it is 20-plus scripts which he has penned, acted, and directed, besides the scores of radio and television plays. Not to forget the brief dabble in movies.
With a contented face, Ratnam rewinds the days, where he made an instant impact as a child artiste in the movie Nawab Narkali. As the tenth child of an extended family, Ratnam says he was blessed with star luck to have had the start alongside the likes of CK Nagesh, Jaishankar, VS Raghavan, VK Ramaswamy, ARS, Lakshmi, and a few others.
“I was too young to have realised the magnitude of that, but it is this experience that paved way for my theatre entry. Soon I got into the fold of stage veteran VS Raghavan, who polished the rough edges while playing the Junior Srikanth character,” Ratnam says.
One thing leading to another, Ratnam’s stage presence and the ability to churn out dialogues fetched him a landmark character in Manorama’s play India Today. A political satire, a norm in that era, Ratnam recalls a nervy moment when he made a hash of a dialogue, only to be saved by the timely act of Manorama with a witty riposte.
For Ratnam, it was a question of balancing his studies. A strict condition from Koothapiran was that in no way the education should take a back seat. The big moment was to play a key character in the play Sattayai Thedum Pambarangal, where Sripriya made a stormy entry into the theatre with three varied roles. “My character had a lot of importance and depth in a plot which had its moments of suspense to keep the audience in tenterhooks,” he says.
Enriched with confidence to rub shoulders with the prominent names of the time, Ratnam says the glorious moment was during an inter-collegiate competition where he was selected in an audition to essay the lead character of writer Sujatha’s master thriller Oru Kolai. Ratnam’s joy knew no bounds but deep inside he pressed the panic button as he had to reprise the role so effortlessly done by Poornam Viswanathan, who doubled up as the director.
Moments of glory
Earning a well-deserved pat from Poornam was worth an Oscar for Ratnam. He explains, “Every nuance of acting I have learned during the rehearsals have got stored at the back of my mind. Poornam harped on the importance of leaving nothing to chance. He would say that there is no room for error, and this was one of my early lessons which had stood me in good stead over the period of time.”
Getting the clarion call from his father’s home production Koothapiran Navabhrath Theatres was just a matter of time for Ratnam. “I was blessed to have had the chance to direct the scripts of my father, which had so much of substance and intense dialogues. Above all, the social messages in the scripts acted as fodder for the director in me to explore and explode new avenues,” he recalls.
In those early days, Ratnam notes Subhashya Seekiram gave an insight of the family bond and an imperative need to do good things without the slightest delay. Kasikku Pona Ganapathy was another play which gave him fulfilment. “Thought-provoking family dramas were the USP of the brand. The story revolved around the aged couple Ganapathy-Thangam and the servant boy Chinnakannan. The challenge was in carrying the tale forward with just three pivotal characters. A surprise knot ensured the sustained audience interest right through,” he shares.
Experiments with form
Taking over the mantle of writing, Ratnam felt a deep desire to unearth the uncharted areas in Tamil theatre. In the play Seethapathy helmed by his son Vignesh, the dialogues were kept minimal with the focus on delving into the emotions of the characters. It worked wonders with the audience. There is a template in Tamil plays as to how a character has to be shaped. “That was fine in the bygone era, but these are days where a 90-minute play is good enough,” he adds.
The Guinness has not recorded it, but it was a first of its kind when three generations of actors came together on the stage in Unnal Mudhium Thatha. Ratnam recalls a testing time during the rehearsals when Koothapiran found the place too hot in the grand rehearsal and moved away. “The whole unit was too stunned to react. Imagine our surprise when he came back and said he was game for another take with the note that he had to justify the tag of the title,” he says.
Ratnam says he had never been short of inspiration, keeping track of the happenings worldwide.
“I have the habit of fixing the title before working on the script. Kaleeswara Bhavanam was one such play where I had to start from the scratch for the characters to fall in place. The cat and mouse game between the son and grandfather was the highlight of the plot which thickened at every turn. The characters played the mind game much to the delight of the gathering. The idea was to involve the minds of the audience and it worked overtime,” he shares.
Pattambi was a famous character played by Koothapiran in Marina’s Oor Vambu. Such was the impact of the innocent cook dished by the veteran actor that he took it as the title for his next play. With a simple premise, but an unexpected ending, Pattambi won lavish media praise from media, as the most entertaining and humorous play laced with emotional content. For this, Ratnam won the second place for best screenplay and Vignesh won the best actor award in the Kodai Nataka Vizha. On the face of it, a simple play took a serious turn, thanks to the innovative script where an impostor, who had swindled scores of people, challenges Pattambi to a mind game.
“It clearly shook the audience, who were wracking the brains to separate the real one from the con man,” he says as he revisits those moments.
Ratnam says he wrote a tale where all the key incidents were the consequences of decisions taken under emotional stress. “The climax drew a lot of muttering and contrasting views from the audience, but that was arguably the highlight of the story,” he explains.
Another play through which Ratnam unsettled the audience was Sadhuranga Parvai, where a chess genius is shown his place by a blind child prodigy. “Once you hook the interest of the audience, the job is to sustain it till the end. These are unconventional plots but when handled dexterously, good enough to scythe through the monotoneity which creeps in inadvertently,” he states.
In the play Oru Robovin Diary, thanks to the impact of the movie Endhiran, Ratnam could drive home a pertinent point on the effects of a robot. “When the father is lonely, the robot is fine-tuned to meet the vagaries of the daily needs. Importantly, the audience could relate with the happenings, which is the key to the success of a play,” he remarked.
In his latest play Rajappa directed by Vignesh, Ratnam brings out the intrinsic values of the reach of theatre and the message it imparts. When challenged by his son to reel out ten names of famed theatre artistes, Ratnam, who played the dramatist Rajappa takes it head on and reels out 100 names at one stretch. “Well, it took lot of effort playing the voice recorder during the long morning walks. All the efforts were worth its weight in gold in the way audience stood up to acknowledge. In the ten shows, there was one time when I fumbled but managed that with another name. Such is the power and reach of Tamil theatre with so many luminaries holding the torch in different period of time,” he recalls.
Driving powers
Passion keep the likes of Ratnam going. The diminishing numbers of 15 sabhas from the once 140, is sad reflection of theatre losing ground over the years. Ratnam suggests that college and school auditoriums could provide the platform for mutual gains as sabhas have their hands full.
The family bond in the House of Koothapiran is pronounced in every frame. Ratnam’s elder brother Ganesan and daughter-in-law Swathi are constant in every play. When the rehearsals are held at their residence, Ratnam’s wife Meera ensures that the artistes are well fed before getting into the act.
What next? Ratnam has already zeroed on the title Surukku Pai for the show on April 30 for this year’s Kodai Nataka Vizha. And of course, be prepared for a bagful of surprises!
Ratnam sees the emergence of new talents in theatre as the beacon of hope. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. One has to explore and dig deeper. You win some and lose some but keep going,” Ratnam sums up as a parting shot.