The Dramatic Arts : Poruthathu Podhum

Poruthathu Podhum, written and directed by “Bombay” Chanakya, is an extremely socially relevant play, almost to the point of it being a social commentary. With the entire buzz surrounding the murder of Swathi, the play follows a similar storyline and, in essence, asks the question about why such atrocities happen in society.

It has been sometime since I have reviewed a drama, so to,0 recap I will point out the faults for which I am reducing points clearly, unless it spoils a very important plot point. Without any further ado, here is my review for Poruthathu Podhum

Written and Directed by – Bombay Chanakya

Set & lights –Studio Seven – Victor Pauraj & Mohan

Music – Guhaprasath

Make up – Perambur Kumar

Audio -                 Narada Gana Sabha

Stage managers – Gowrishankar & Gopi

Voices – Mridula Jayaram, DR Sharmila, Sandhya Sundar, Sangeethakumar,

Hospitality – Kavitha Suresh and Sangeetha Kumar

Associate director – V S Ravichandiran

Cast - CID Nathan – Sundaresan, Vimala – Kavitha Suresh, Subbu – Bombay Kumar, Bharathi – Pooja, Ramakrishnan, Kanagavel – V S Ravichandiran, Anitha – Yamini Srikrishnan, Paramasivan – Kothandaraman, Arjun – Ashwin, Revathi – Pooja Ramakrishnan, Mohan – Dhanasekar, Minister – Srinivasan Krishnan

Produced by – Kalamandir

What I Liked:

This play has some really good acting in it. I have to admit that most of the actors gave tremendous performances and I really liked some of them. I do have some issues which I will discuss in the negatives section, but sticking with the positives, the performances of Kavitha Suresh as Vimala, Bombay Kumar as Subbu and Pooja Ramakrishnan as Bharathi and Revathi were very good. But to me the stand out performance was Dhanasekar as Mohan. It was almost eerie seeing his mannerisms on stage.

Something else that elevated the play a lot was the music by S. Guhaprasath. It was atmospheric, powerful and moving and something which I thoroughly enjoyed. One small nitpick though is that I found it eerily similar to some of the previous plays for which he has done music for. But it was never a deal breaker to begin with.

The sets by Studio Seven were minimalistic and added a nice touch. But somehow the trend of going for a minimalistic set seems far too mainstream, that it added a sort of disconnect; more on that later. But just so that I am clear here, I liked the overall set design and the usage of props

The overall direction is pretty good, up until the first hour in this hour and a half play. It is only during the second half that the most glaring issues started popping up.

What Could Have Been Better:

The acting does have some sore spots. There were some performances which seemed good enough, but somehow, I never got behind two character performances. One was Kothandaraman as Paramasivan, whose acting was a bit ambiguous. The character and its arc within the story is a pretty important one and certain scenes evoked confusion rather than acceptance and I am curious whether it was a problem with the direction or the acting. Half a point, reduced for that.

The second character was just plain annoying. I am sorry to say that the performance of Ashwin as Arjun left a lot to be desired. Another half a point reduced for that.

Lights can go a long way in providing an atmosphere and in essence they perform the function of a camera on stage. They have to, sometimes let the audience know what they have to focus on through spotlights. But there comes a time when the number of times spotlights are used becomes too much. Just imagine a full movie cutting between the faces of the actors never showing their bodies. Unfortunately, the play suffers from the same case of there just being spotlights. With the background being black too, there is very little light on stage, and while it did ramp up the tension, there seemed to be no need for it at all in many scenes. Half a point reduced for that.

Finally, I have to address the second half of the play. Frankly, it is a mess. Until the interval, everything seemed to be going in a really good path, but the second half completely lost me as both an audience member and a critic. There were so many gaps in the narrative and the tone shifts from it being a play which is socially relevant to something totally different. The change is so drastic that it felt as if I was watching a totally different play. The turn that the characters take and all the direction points to one thing and one thing only, they couldn’t find any other way to end the play. It really is unfortunate that such a socially relevant play underwent a turn for the worse when the important part came about. Making an exception, I am taking a complete point away for that.

Final Thoughts:

This play deserves a lot more than the rating that my math gives it. It does have some really good performances and it also has many interesting and important statements about the society. It is just that the execution left much to be desired.

I give Poruthathu Podhum 2.5 out of 5 stars.

The direction in the first half is nothing short of spectacular, and I really wished the same momentum carried over to the second. While it is unfortunate that it didn’t, I certainly would like to see a play where it does in the future.Until next time;

Peace!!!