This last Vikatakavi continues his show to enthral people

KUMBAKONAM: The story of witty Tenali Raman might seem to be a thing of the past but the ‘Vikata Kalai’ that he introduced has been charming people even today. Few persons tried to follow his wit and humour but failed.

However, here is a person in Kumbakonam who has been practicing the art for the past 60 years and continues to contribute to the art and says that he will perform until he lives.

After Tenali Raman, Brammashri Ramaswamy Sastri from Tiruvisanallur near Kumbakonam performed the ‘Vikata Kalai’ and created awareness among the people about the art, and thus, the present generation people came to know a little about this art which was losing its place as it was not lucrative.

But for Kunniyur R Kalyanasundaram (81), it is possible and a bread-winning profession.

“In those days, Ramaswamy Sastri exhibited sounds of mridangam, tavil, and kudukuduppai through his mouth and I, as a young boy, made the sounds of dogs, ducks, hens, and cows for fun and this was the beginning of my career as a Vikatakavi artist,” recalls Kalyanasundaram.

Kalyanasundaram, a Kalaimamani recipient and a follower of Ramaswamy Sastri has been performing this art for the past 60 years. When he was making the sounds of animals, a noted musician Rajagopalan encouraged him and asked him to learn the techniques of Vikatakavi from Ramaswamy Sastri by accepting him as his guru.

“Since then, I have been performing this art across the state mostly in the temple festivals and in a few government programmes. Apart from Tamil Nadu, I have travelled to Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, and Gujarat to perform this art which makes one laugh as well as think,” he said.

He said the themes would vary from place to place but at the end, it would teach life’s lesson to the audience.

“We deliver the art in such a way that the people would get fascinated by the way of articulating the message. There would be solutions for family disputes, social issues, and patriotism. We make the audience laugh all through the event but we will be very particular in delivering a message,” he said.

Kalyanasundaram worried that the witty art has no takers and no one is interested in learning as mimicry has replaced this.

“In mimicry, the performer would utter the noise similar to the animal but the Vikatakavi would make the particular animal speak in their tone but speak our language. We consider all animals to interact with humans in their way. For instance, the dogs used to call us ‘yaru yov’ while the peacock would call ‘Muruga Muruga’ and a buffalo would greet us by making ‘vanakkam’ in its style,” he said.

Kalyanasundaram further said that there are 80 varieties of laughs among humans and he used to perform a few to the audience which is an absolute crowd-puller.

“To give a good message to the people, I have started to read more books to gain knowledge and this supports me in delivering messages to my audiences,” he adds.