The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : `Ponniyin Selvan' radio play artistes honoured

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 23, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

`Ponniyin Selvan' radio play artistes honoured

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Arulmozhi Varman and Vanthiyadevan first captured imaginations through `Kalki' Krishnamoorthy's `Ponniyin Selvan' around half a century ago. Parthiban of All India Radio dreamt of recreating the magic and pulled it off in 40 weekly episodes of half hour length, going on air last Tamil New Year's Day.

With airing of the final episode last week, the Kalki Krishnamoorthy Trust honoured the artistes involved in the making of the radio play at an event presided over by lyricist Vairamuthu here on Sunday evening.

Ponniyin Selvan (or son of the Kaveri) is the tale of Raja Raja Cholan, his dreams for building temples befitting the gods he worshipped, his sacrifice of giving his throne to the uncle he called the rightful heir and of the court intrigues he emerged unscathed from. The novel was presented as a serial story in the Kalki magazine and is acclaimed for taut narrative and imaginative use of historical characters.

Kalki Rajendran, son of the writer, said the radio medium was particularly suited for the retelling of the tale because it set the imagination free to shape the characters.

Around sixty people were involved in the dubbing and production of the play. Among them was the late R. S. Manohar, actor, who played the role of the Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar. Vairamuthu called Kalki Krishnamoorthy a historical phenomenon. He urged young creators to emulate Kalki's example of blending scholarship with creativity and praised his capacity to infuse contemporary humour into a narrative set more than a thousand years ago.

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