A dramatic link in the U.S.
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Through his Tamil plays, `America' Anantha, settled in Houston, Texas, acts as a cultural bridge between East and West. KAUSALYA SANTHANAM talks to the theatre buff, who was recently honoured.
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`America' Anantha flanked by dignitaries at the award function. — Pic. by K. V. Srinivasan.
ANANTHA IS the torchbearer of Tamil theatre in the U.S. For nearly 30 years, he has been writing, directing and presenting plays in the American cities he has lived in, especially in Houston, where he has settled down. This has earned him the prefix ``America" (Anantha).
The Nataka Academy in Chennai, in association with the Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha and the Brahma Gana Sabha, felicitated Anantha at the Narada Gana Sabha hall recently. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty conferred the title of Nataka Seva Ratna on him. Justice K. S. Bhaktavatsalam presided over the function. A. Natarajan, former Director of Doordarshan Kendra, musician M. Balamuralikrishna, palyback singer P. B Sreenivos, actress Sachu, industrialist M. Balaji and R. Krishnaswamy, president, Federation of city sabhas were among those who paid tributes to Anantha's talent. Raadhu of the Nataka Academy was the master of ceremonies. The evening also went to show how dedicated Raadhu is to the promotion of mainstream Tamil theatre and the efforts he makes to salute those who have contributed to it.
The event and the screening of excerpts from Anantha's plays brought the expatriate experience close. He has written 20 plays in all dealing with a kaleidoscopic range of themes. ``I have been trained in Carnatic classical music and so most of my plays centre around music," he explains in an interview with this correspondent. ``Even my first play `Niraindha Ullam" written in the 1960s had music as its theme."
The play staged by 26 sabhas in Madras was soon picked up by a producer, Latif Sahib of Coimbatore, and made into the film ``Adhikari" starring K. Balaji, E. V. Saroja and M. N. Rajam.
The engineer-cum-amateur actor who had made his debut in Y. G. Pathasarathy's troupe had decided to seek greener pastures in Great Britain. ``While I was working in Royal Enfield in Madras in 1959, I acted in YGP's `It Happened in the Night' and I formed the Madras Stage Artists troupe soon after." A number of amateur actors who were working in various firms as well as professional actors such as Srikanth, Indira Devi, Kanthimathi, and Rani Somanathan took part in his plays.
As soon as his wife Padma and he got their bearings in London, they began their cultural activities along with other likeminded Tamil people and he founded the London Tamil Sangam. The group presented radio plays for the BBC which had a good number of listeners in Singapore and Malaysia.
The couple however decided to migrate to the U.S. In New York, where Anantha worked in an engineering firm, he staged Marina's ``Thani Kudithanam" and S.V. Sahasranamam's ``Vadivelu Vaadhiyar."
``I became the Secretary and later the president of the Bharati Society of America," he says. Job opportunities beckoned in Texas where the oil industry was booming. ``Once in Houston, we were inducted into the Meenakshi temple project. I founded the Tamil Stage Creations of America in 1977. And we put up a number of plays," says Anantha. He has built up a corps of amateur actors in Houston among whom are dancers Padmini Chari and Ratna Paapa and musician Geetha Krishnamurthy.
``My wife and daughter Luckmi also act in my plays. A number of doctors in the city take time off from their busy schedule to showcase their histrionic talent. " The Bharathi Kalai Manram in Houston has 300 members Anantha also took up the filming of Saavi's ``Washingtonil Thirumanam" for television and many artistes from Chennai went to the U.S. to participate in it.
The serial telecast by Doordarshan in 1996 won the Mylapore Academy award for best TV serial that year.
Many of the performances are organised to gather funds for charity and for the construction and expansion of temple complexes. He is now working on a play, the proceeds from which will go towards the construction of the priest's quarters at the Meenakshi temple.
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