The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Balachander to ‘stage’ comeback

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Wednesday, Apr 01, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Balachander to ‘stage’ comeback

S. R. Ashok Kumar

He is directing a play titled ‘Pournami’ scheduled for April 18

CHENNAI: Veteran director K. Balachander is back to his roots — drama.

He is directing a play titled ‘Pournami’.

After nearly 40 years, the legend, who has directed 100 films and has done more than half-a-dozen stage plays in his earlier days, is to make a comeback to theatre.

Director K.Balachander started writing plays at a very young age. All his plays have been made in to films and they have been huge successes as well. “Server Sundaram”, “Neerkumuzhi” and “Navagraham” are some of his noted works.

After staging “Navagraham” he entered the film industry and became a successful writer. His first film was the MGR –Sarojadevi starrer “Theivathai”. After the success of the film he continued directing films and has till now directed nearly 100 films.

Comes to stage after 40 years

Mr. Balachander said “I am coming to the stage after a gap of nearly forty years. It is going to be Kavithalaya Theatres and I am the president of it and Kavithalaya Krishnan is the secretary. We intend to stage our new drama “Pournami” on April 18 for Karthik Fine Arts. Some of the artists whom I have introduced play key roles in the drama.”

“The protagonist is Renuka, while the cast includes Karthik Srinivasan, Fathima Babu, Ravikanth and Lakshmi. The dialogues have been written by Srivatsan.”

When asked what was the content of the play, he said it was a contemporary subject.

“It is a one-set play which deals with a serious problem of a family. My sole intention is to draw the attention of the younger generation. I am always blamed for being ahead of my times. This is a present-day problem and it is about the youth. I intend to bring out a new play every fourth month. I have taken it up as a full-time job.”

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