Bengali and Malayalam plays take centrestage in Chennai

Chennai has a vibrant theatre scene with a large number of Tamil and English plays being performed every month in the city. Political satire, slapstick comedy, history, mythology and drama are some of the favourite genres enjoyed by the drama-loving crowd. Adding to this theatre watching experience are Bengali and Malayalam language plays that are slowly becoming popular. Prabasi Sarathi, a Bengali theatre group and Makthoob Theatre, a Malayalam group, are hosting thought-provoking plays and providing a platform for people to bond over art and culture.

There are around 18 Bengali associations in Chennai that host plays for their own audience. But to reach a larger section of people, a few associations came together and started the first Bengali drama troupe called Prabasi Sarathi. Recently, they hosted and performed a Bengali drama festival called the Chennai-Kolkata Drama festival. “We wanted to reach out to a large number of Bengalis, who are born and brought up in Chennai. For us, drama is something that’s deeply rooted in culture. We wanted to bond over our common love for theatre and that was one of the main reasons for us to host the drama festival where we performed two plays called Jiban Jerokom and Folgu,” says Ravi Shankar Roy, jointsecretary of Prabasi Sarathi drama group. Suramya Dasgupta is the president and Subhojit Mukherjee is the secretary of the group.

To develop the culture of Bengali theatre in the city, Prabasi Sarathi started organising acting workshops for interested candidates. “The workshops are for two sections of people — for those who have zero knowledge about drama and for those who wanted to upgrade their knowledge in theatre. In the future, we will be including non-Bengali speaking participants as well,” he adds.

The director and actors in Prabasi Sarathi are working professionals, homemakers and students. There is a tendency for people to detach from their roots when they stay away from their homes. “It is important for us to learn and understand a new culture. But at the same time, one shouldn’t forget their own culture as well,” Ravi muses.  

Though there are five or six Malayalam theatre groups in Chennai, the kind of plays staged by them has become monotonous. Because of this, the footfall at such theatre productions has reduced drastically. That’s when Jophin Manimala and Subash Sumathy Bhaskaran decided to bring in some innovative concepts to theatre. They started a Malayalam theatre group called Makthoob Theatre that mainly focuses on subjects like marginalised Dalits, women, homosexuals, etc.“Initially, we were doubtful about the response from Chennaiites. But after staging 2-3 dramas, we understood that people here like captivating narratives. Nobody is interested in watching a three-hour play that has poor content and poorly presented. So far, we have done plays titled Thoomathipoovu, One Night Girlfriends, Zoo Story, The First Goal, etc,” says Jophin.

Though Kerala Government organisations like Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi help in hosting Malayalam plays in Chennai, Jophin says that the best way to inculcate a love for theatre among children is by introducing them to theatre workshops. “You should be a regular participant in cultural activities organised by Malayali associations. This will help in understanding the history of Malayalam theatre,” he adds.To pull in non-Malayalam speaking audience to come and watch the plays, Makthoob Theatre team is planning to shift venues from their regular spots to Russian Cultural Centre, Goethe-Institut and Alliance Francaise of Madras.