The Dramatic Arts : Saduranga Parvai

When creating a play, it is difficult to achieve both critical and commercial acclaim; but once you do it becomes even more difficult to do it once again. It’s like lightning striking the same place twice; it is possible, just incredibly rare. After the incredible success of Kaleeshwarabhavanam, with its incredible sets, powerful music and impeccable lighting, the bar was set incredibly high for Koothapiran Navabharath Theaters; and with their newest play Saduranga Parvai they aimed to set the bar even higher. Did they do it? Let’s find out, in this in-depth analysis of Saduranga Parvai.

Seeing as how an in-depth analysis is something that I have not done before, I want to preface it by saying that I will be spoiling some details, barring the main twist of the play, as it is its most important component. This is something new I am planning to do with the Drama reviews this year both in an attempt to improve my own writing and also because I believe an in-depth analysis will go a long way in explaining why certain things work and certain things don’t work on stage.

Let’s start with the plot and screenplay of Saduranga Parvai. The play follows a world class chess champion from a small village and the drama his family goes through when he finds out that his brother’s son is the only person in the world who can beat him at chess, without any formal training. On paper the script may not seem like something great, and to be frank, the structure it follows is something that was already done in Kaleeshwarabhavanam. Set up a conflict and have the climax; the peak of tension; with a twist right before the interval or the two-third point, and finally ride out the tension and bring the story to a conclusion.

This structure works both for and against Saduranga Parvai. It works because it is unconventional. In other plays the climax or the peak of tension happens a few minutes after the interval as all the time before that is spent setting up the conflict, building the characters and their motivations and even after the two-thirds mark the tension keeps building and peaks only minutes before the resolution. This is the method followed by most movies and plays; but its downfall lies in the fact that a proper and complete resolution may not be possible in the amount of time left.

With the climax and the most important twist that adds to the peaking of the tension being right before the interval Saduranga Parvai and Kaleeshwarabhavanam had the incredible opportunity to make the viewers bask in the tension; bringing them to the edge of their seats before finally bringing a complete and detailed resolution to the conflict that is setup. Both of these plays had it difficult too, because they have to set up both the characters and the conflict in a shorter amount of time.

To its credit, Saduranga Parvai, does the setting up of characters, their motivations and the conflict really well. With its first scene it introduces us to the title character and sets up the classic character arc of an arrogant champion, drunk on fame. It also manages to set up the conflict. In fact it manages to set up two conflicts; one where the uncle sees the nephew as the one person who can defeat him, and also the conflict of how the nephew does not want anything to do with chess, despite being a world class player, because it took his uncle away from him and his father. The characters are sufficiently complex and the dialogues, while not as well written as Kaleeshwarabhavanam, are brought to life incredibly well because they are so simple.

But the script is not without its problems. Despite having precise character motivations set up, it has unnecessary characters that are just used for exposition. To be more particular about the characters, the two villagers who appeared in the beginning of the play were used only for exposition and don’t appear anywhere past the halfway point. The second lies more in the execution of the interval twist and its lack of justification rather than the script itself and perhaps, what was to me, the most jarring of all was the unnecessarily tacked on scene at the end. A powerful conclusion, even if it is not a happy one, negates the need for a happy ending. And despite the script having an extremely hard hitting conclusion, the power and effect it had on the audience was almost cut down in half because of the unnecessary need for a, quote-unquote, happy ending.

Kaleeshwarabhavanam set the bar very high when it came to the script and its execution, and despite following the same spiritual structure of the script, Saduranga Parvai does not break the bar because of two simple things; the lack of justification for the pivotal twist and the unnecessary additions to a solid script.

Now that the script and screenplay have been discussed in quite a bit of detail, let us delve into the actual execution on the stage. The impact of the play rested on three very specific things; the music, the lighting and the acting of the two main leads. Yes, the sets by “Padma Stage” Kannan are important, and while definitely enough to set the stage and the background, they were more like canvases that the actors had to paint. It didn’t play an integral part in the execution of the play itself, in other than one single scene where the passing of time is shown brilliantly with the changing of the faces of the moon. The make up too was spot on, and since it is by “Perambur” Kumar one can expect nothing but the best.

As mentioned earlier though, the play rested in three pillars; music, lighting and acting. The first two elevated the script to a whole new level. The thundering scores, the incessant ticking of the chess clock, the somber tunes of pathos all blend together with fiery reds of anger and blues of sadness and flashes to tension to bring incredibly simple scenes to powerhouses of impact; “Mylai” Babu on the lights and Guhaprasath on the music play with their respective crafts in the heat of the tension. The third pillar is where the play falters.

Acting can make or break your play; and after Kaleeshwarabhavanam nothing less than top notch acting was expected form the whole team. Fortunately Ratnam Koothapiran delivers in spades. His portrayal of a chess player drunk on his expertise, but also haunted by the fact that he cannot gain the upper hand of the only person who managed to defeat him without any formal training. Every other supporting character manages to play their roles, however insignificant, with enough authenticity to make them believable. The weak link here comes in the form of the decisions made with the character of the nephew played by a child actor Niti and by Vignesh Ratnam.

Before I move on, the character himself is described as a hyperactive boy who is intelligent beyond his years, something that plays a pivotal part in the play. When he is a child this characteristic is displayed by his thin physique, enthusiastic behavior, extreme happiness and uncannily witty dialogue. The problem comes when the question of how hyperactivity is displayed when the character becomes an adult.

Since the hyperactivity is not exactly revealed to be a characteristic specific to this boy until very much later in the play, the audience just assumes he is a regular healthy kid. So when we see him as an adult, there is nothing that shows that he is hyperactive. He talks in a normal manner, he walks around like any other character does and is not even always happy like his child counterpart, having emotional two breakdowns; one which involves his mentor and another which plays an important part in the twist.

Then out of nowhere the fact that he is hyperactive and has other important characteristics is revealed and while we associate that with his child version, we don’t do that with the adult. Partly because of the execution, and partly because of Vignesh Ratnam’s acting, which when compared to the rest of the stellar cast, seems more casual. Hands on hips and not completely facing the audience are amateur mistakes which you don’t expect from a rather good artist. His portrayal of hyperactivity also became more unbelievable with more maniacal laughter where it wasn’t necessary making the audiences wonder if the character was undergoing a change of, well to be frank, his entire character. A much more nuanced and subdued portrayal would have been more appreciated, giving the character a believable feeling, especially in the beginning of the second half of the play.

While the story and the script are stellar, there are a lot of holes left in it during the execution. The interval scene lacked a lot of impact because of unbelievable reactions from the supporting cast and also because of the lack of setup as mentioned earlier. There is also one scene that discusses medical issues and the execution there with the issues being discussed were rather weak to justify their outcome; making it seem like too little too late.

A lot of logical mistakes also plagued the execution; smart phones being used in the past, people going in and out of stranger’s house without permission and very importantly the absence of a chess clock in a tournament. Little things like this add up to create logical inconsistencies that leave the audience members irked. Little additions like chess jargon during a match, the use of a chess clock, a sign representing a tournament is going on are all things that may seem insignificant but play an important role in creating the illusion of immersion that sucks the audience into the world of the play.

My other nitpick would be the convoluted subplot involving the nephew and his school friend which may have been done in a much simpler manner. After the play ended, I was left with this feeling of it being overstuffed in places it didn’t need to be, such as cheesy and corny one liners (“Pasa kudharai”. Really?) and jokes that didn’t seem necessary in the first half, and under stuffed in places it more than needed filling, like the lack of thought that went into props and the convoluted explanations in the place of more simpler ones; the last scene being the sole thing that left a sour taste to the whole play, which should have ended with the brilliantly constructed and amazingly acted monologue the scene before. Suffice to say, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the play.

With that fairly deep dissection of the play completed, this is my final analysis. I loved Kaleeshwarabhavanam. It was incredible in almost every way, and it having set the bar so high, I feel Koothapiran Navabharath Theaters set too high a challenge for themselves and they overdid their efforts to top their previous achievement and it shows.

Kaleeshwarabhavanam inspired a lot of young playwrights, including myself. The biggest thing that I took away from it was the pacing. Unfortunately Saduranga Parvai, is a perfect example of how little things that are overlooked can result in big problems; and I believe that should be the lesson to be learnt; look at the details, because little details come together to make a big picture. Tamil Drama has a rocky future ahead, and for it to grow we need playwrights and creators like in Koothapiran Navabharath Theaters to show us both what works on stage and what doesn’t. Critics like me find fault only to make sure the same mistakes aren’t made the second time around and I do believe Kaleeshwarabhavanam, and the way it paid attention to detail can lifted it to a whole new level, and Saduranga Parvai is an example of how lack of it can bring an amazing concept of a play down during execution. Don’t get me wrong; I like Saduranga Parvai; but with all its minor flaws adding up I feel like it was a missed shot at greatness.

I hope to see much more, and much better from Koothapiran Navabharath Theaters in the future, because I sure know they can.

Peace!!!