CHENNAI: Age does not determine when you will land you dream job. True to this statement, theatre actor Padma Ganapathy is now in the best phase of her life. There was no looking back for Padma since she got introduced to Bombay Gnanam by a dear friend of hers. “The conditions were crystal clear as to the volumes of rehearsals to be attended and the doors were opened only for the passionate ones without the monetary aspect.” As she opens up on her fruitful sojourn with the ace dramatist, she says, “I deem it fortunate to have had the twin blessings of Goddess Padmavathy and Lord Vinayaka, to have come under the wings of Bombay Gnanam. Yes, it has to be the name.”
As a permanent member of the Mahalakshmi Ladies Drama Group, in all six of the spiritual plays, Padma says, “I am enveloped by a divine feeling, hard to express but only my eyes will know the volumes of happiness.”
Padma took the plunge without the slightest hesitation and the past decade has been memorable. She says, “There is a saying that if one is lucky to find the job of one’s liking, one does not have to work for the rest of their life. I derived the true meanings of life, richer by the experience of the travel with Gnanam.”
Space to express
For Padma, the takeaway moments in the rehearsals are the space in which women can express themselves freely. “In an all-women troupe, there is no inhibition factor and we can go easy on the costumes. All the same, it is fun to slip into a man’s role with the luxury of a moustache. In spiritual plays, there is no room for error as the facts had to be given the revered due. That has been the bottomline of all Gnanam’s plays and as an artiste, nothing short of perfection will please me.”
Playing multiple characters is a norm in Gnanam’s plays where an artiste gets to do contrasting roles. The one which lingers with Padma is the Alasinghar character in Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsar where she played an ardent Vaishnavite, taking pleasure in volunteering and accomplishing activities planned and carried out for Swami Vivekananda. “The other one was Bhairavi Brahmin, an important character in the life of Paramahamsar. He volunteers to become the guru of the saint, making him lead a life of Brahmacharyam, in spite of being married to Sharada Devi,” she says.
Baba is a play close to Padma’s heart in the way with which her two characters were shaped — one in the present day scenario as Baba Vandikaran and the other one during Baba’s time as the policeman Dasganu. “The cart-puller character had me playing an educated ‘man’, taking up the onus of narrating Baba’s life history to an atheist doctor, who eventually realises his folly and turning out to be an ardent devotee. The cop character gave me avenues where he resigns his job on the direction of Baba, finds solace in Dwarakamai, the sacred place in Shirdi, where Baba lived for six decades. A lavani dancer, the character gets introduced in that fashion, who is prevented from visiting Ganga and Yamuna by the Baba. Dasganu is flabbergasted when Baba brings the rivers to Dwarakamai, through his feet,” she explains.
As a sishya of Viswadikendrar at the Mutt, Padma saw the winning moments in underplaying her character in Bhagavan Nama Bodendral where her bullying ways of Paandu whenever he visits the Mutt had the demoralising effect on the worthy.
Dwelling on the perfection and research of Gnanam’s plays, Padma recounts a moment in Bodendral when the artistes expressed their desire to get the blessings of the Acharyas of the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. She says, “We had apprehensions as to how it will be received. Imagine our surprise, the Acharyas sent their blessings through a devotee, before the inauguration. When the artistes are enveloped with a divine feel, it aptly reflects on the stage.”
Shades of negativity in characters are fine for Padma, as she happily found her moorings in the twin characters in Bhaja Govindam. Padma says, “Playing an Andhra-based businessman visiting Kancheepuram for his sari business and annoyed with the ways of the dealing gave me the licence to shout hoarse. The arrogance of my character is doused by the Mutt pontiff, making him realise the values and virtues of life.”
Happy with her fill in the divine world, Padma also found her endearing moments in social plays of Theatre Marina. A play which she remembers fondly is Thiruarangan where she says, “I donned the character of a rich old lady who is god fearing but ill treats the maidIf I learned the moorings from Gnanam, director R Giridharan guided me in not going overboard and not getting carried away. Play it simple to leave your stamp was the watchword; this has kept me in good stead over the years.”
Showing her gratitude to art director Mohan Babu, a constant in all Gnanam’s plays, she says, “He guides me right through on the importance of hand movements when the lip is in sync with the taped male voices.”
Foray into social cause
Acknowledging that social plays are a welcome diversion, Padma recounts the emotionally-drenched turbulent character in Suklapaksham, helmed by Satish Chandrasekaran. She says, “As a victim of domestic violence, she is shattered beyond words which has a cascading effect on her only child.”
Another play, Undo, on the effects of time travel, had its mesmerising effect on Padma. “As the wife of a wealthy man, who travels to undo his marriage in his old age, I had the avenues to mock him at every turn. In social plays, one gets the luxury to improvise it,” she says.
A short play Kizhakku Ambalapattu helmed by Arun Kumar had Padma playing a middle-class wife of a postmaster in a village, reconciled to the mundane ways of the daily grind with no means to express her feelings. Resigned to her fate, she coaxes her husband to accept things as they are.
With a settled look in a world which looked a distant dream initially, Padma is seeing the happy augury, at the best phase of her middle age. “There is no restriction in MLDG to extend the horizons. Having donned hues of men characters, the female in me could do with characters, harping on women empowerment, befitting my experience. And why restrict myself, when the floodgates had opened from all quarters,” Padma rounds it off with contentment written all over her face.