CHENNAI : To say that stage technicians play a crucial role behind the scenes and more often than not their backstage work takes centre stage is no exaggeration. When the curtains go up, the prevalent mood is set up by the lights and music, in tandem. An hour-long chat with Kalaivanar Kicha revealed that what he did not know about lighting in the world of Tamil theatre was not worth knowing. Over five decades and 7,500 shows, the sexagenarian opens up in a free-wheeling conversation, slipping into evergreen memories of the bygone period.
Taking into a family profession at the age of 10, P Krishnan, fondly called Kicha, said he saw it as a god-sent opportunity to have learnt the craft from his late father Paramasivam. Kicha says, “My father had the privilege to work with illustrious names like Nawab Rajamanickam Pillai, KR Ramaswamy, Jaiganesh, Sivakumar, Ravichandran, Chandrakanta, NS Krishnan, MGR, Senthamarai, and a few others of their ilk. Being blessed with a wealth of experiences, he passed the baton to my elder brother, myself, and my younger brother. All are happy to play our part in what is deemed a family affair, Kalaivanar Electricals, a name formed by my father for the light company, inspired by the world of learning from NS Krishna.”
Technical support
Kicha has worked with all drama troupes, be it for sound, light, or music in charge. He is known as a professional drama technician, and along with his brothers P Kalaivanan and Kalai Ravi, they are collectively known as the technical backbone in the world of Tamil theatre.
Some of the significant feats in his career are due to the space given by the production houses across eras to be part of the rehearsals. “A lightman is in the best vantage position, seated in the pit below the stage getting a ringside view of the happenings. A technician’s work includes setting the scenes, lights, mikes, speakers; and he has to create the special effects from a plethora of ways in the form of a higher number of tapes for the right sound effects,” he shares.
Kicha started off his career as a lightman. Over the years, he has been entrusted with the job of handling the background score, thanks to the trust imposed on him by the illustrious names of Kudanthai Mali, TV Radhakrishnan, Mapillai Ganesh, PT Ramesh, and a few others. “Candid discussions with the directors are the key to opening the magical doors of lighting. Imagine the play Manasa where lights had to be turned off for 82 scenes, a big task in the 90s when modern lighting technology had not made its entry into the field. This was one of the challenges that brought the best out of me, and a lot of relied on my eye and hand coordination. You have to keep in mind that there was no luxury of a 30-second gap between two scenes as any extra time on stage would have meant a penalty which the production house could ill afford,” he details.
Giving credit to art director Mohan Babu’s work in Dhanushkodi where copious rains poured on the stage for well over 90 minutes, Kicha recalls the time when the stage was enveloped with the natural elements of light, thunder, and rain in the play Mazhai Uthir Kalam. He says, “Sans any technological assistance like the present times, I played with the varied kinds of colours to create a stunning impact. Everything had to happen in a fleet of seconds and audiences were transported to a new level of experience. When technicians get the freedom to execute their ideas, the success is total. It hardly matters if all the eulogies are showered on the artistes and the director. The bottom line is that the success of a play and the sight of happy faces trooping out of the venues has been a lasting impression.”
Another play that Kicha fondly remembers is Nethra Darshinam, in which he had to portray the artiste dousing herself with fire, in an act of suicide. “This had to be done at night and it gave me the license to instil a red light aided by smoke effects to strikingly replicate the effects of burning. The sounds also helped to add to the realism of the act, which lingered in the audience’s mind. I guess that the beauty of lighting is its visual effects that have the magic to stay in the minds for after the curtains are drawn,” he says.
Acceding the utility value of LED, Kicha believes life is much easier in plays where he doubled up as lightman and background score. In heart of hearts, he is still looking for the halogen lamp to play with. “With that handy tool, I look forward to the thrill when with a mere white paper across the halogen lamp,” he says. Kicha could surprise the audience and keep them wondering. He adds, “The important facet is to create the right environment in the plot for the lightman to execute his ideas. The IQ of the audience is on a higher count in the present era and it pays to keep that in mind while engaging them in the mind game which is the job of the director.”
Kicha’s efforts are in vain if the viewers fail to see the characters in inappropriate lighting. The blue colour is used to suggest nighttime while orange and red indicate sunrise and sunset respectively. When anger has to be explicitly shown close-up, red light has a cascading effect to convey the message. “At the end of the day, it is the audience approbation which technicians long for. It does not matter if the thunder was meant for the artistes concerned but heart of hearts we know that was a job well done. The beauty is in the audience not seeing us and being blissfully unaware of the hand behind the success of a scene,” he explains.
Awards and more
As the winner of the prestigious Karthik Fine Arts Excellence award for three consecutive years, Kicha cherishes the award from Kudhanthai Mali, at his celebrations of 60 years on stage. He says, “In my formative years, there was so much to learn from Mali sir in plays like Gnana Peedam, Nammavargal, and Athma Visaranai. When a fatherly figure like Mali imposes confidence, it has no parallel. The adrenaline is pumped to look for out-of-the-box effects.”
Kicha vividly remembers the green colour effect he created in Nammavargal in a plot where terrorists had sneaked into a house of an Indian. He says, “I hit upon the idea of the green colour to show the effects when the attitude of the terrorist changes colour. The idea was mine and the audience could derive the meaning even without the exchange of dialogues. In another scene, where the intention of the terrorist had to be shown, the desired effects were brought out on the map through the colours. All had to be done in a flash where spotlighting came in handy to relay the prevalent mood in the stage.”
Though Kicha has worked mostly in social plays, he is comfortable playing his hand dexterously to ring in the desired effects of lighting in plays like Ponniyin Selvan, Chanakya Sabadham, and Raja Raja Chozhan.
His task often gets lighter in grandeur plays as merely showing the light is enough when artistes are draped in rich costumes. Anything over the stretched limits will dilute the content of the play. As a parting note, Kicha urges the government to disburse a small monthly amount that could help the youngsters take the profession. “Youngsters are springing up to light up the stage in front. But there are no takers for the backstage. Hands are needed to press the lights to show the ones in good light in the main arc,” Kicha says. If there is light at the end of the tunnel, the likes of Kicha continue to hold the torch.