The rebel with a cause from Kudanthai

It's a hot summer Sunday afternoon, but this 89-year-old playwright and director is in no mood for a siesta after lunch. He drives from his home at Nanganallur to an auditorium in Mylapore, where the rehearsal is on in full swing for the play to be staged in the evening. The playwright is none other than N Mahalingam, popularly known as Kudanthai Mali, whose latest production is on the life of the spiritual leader and social reformer from Kerala, Sree Narayana Guru.

About a 100 years after the passing of the Guru and the socio-political reform movements that shook Tamil Nadu in the 20th century, a socially conscious Tamil playwright still considers the clarion call of 'Oru Jaathi, Oru Matham, Oru Daivam Manushyanu' (one caste, one religion, one God for mankind), to be very much relevant! It might seem a tiring task to keep writing and directing plays at the age of 90, but not for Kudanthai Mail. Some may find his statement patriarchal - God gave me sons and not daughters, so that I could devote my attention exclusively to theatre.

However, his daughter-in-law Sowmya, a musician, has scored the music for his plays. Even as a child, Mali's social conscience was aroused by casteism and the way widows were treated at Tiruvidaimarudur in Thanjavur, where he grew up. At the same time, the spiritual ambience of a mutt opposite his residence in Mahadana Street and the sublimity of the Upanishadic lore impressed him. During his graduation days in Madras, he was attracted by the speeches of M P Sivagnanam (Ma Po Si).

A freedom fighter, Ma Po Si had re-cast himself as a Tamil champion through his party Tamil Arasu Kazhagam in the 1950s. Mali became a propagandist speaker of the party, and took lessons in Tamil literature from his political guru. On watching the plays of S V Sahasranamam, V S Raghavan and T K Shanmugam, Mali got bitten by the dramatic bug and launched the Tiruvatteeswarar Sabha in 1952, along with his classmate N K T Muthu. Mali wrote his first play 'Thanthai En Deivam' in 1959 and staged it, upon which Ma Po Si advised him to present social issues in his plays. This became Mali's mantra, and he wrote and staged 'Kadavul Engey' (1961). A spirited response to the atheist propaganda, it presented a nuanced study of worship and religion and was based on a short story by A K Pattusamy. It was staged over 250 times.

The music for this play was scored by the renowned playback singer T M Sounderarajan, who also sang three songs in it. Sivaji Ganesan, the reigning cinema star of the time, was so impressed by the play that he requested Mali to write for him. But Mali's move to Hyderabad as well as his decision to stage his own plays turned it into a non-starter. Mali's affability and unassuming manner mask a fiercely independent spirit and a proclivity to swim against the current.

This is evident in his unswerving devotion to the stage even at a time when the Sabha support system atrophied, and in his refusal to bow down to authority.

This rebellious spirit was evident when he staged 'Gnanapeetham' (2003), a play which underscored that merit and not caste should be the deciding factor on who should be the pontiff of a mutt. Mali was threatened by a powerful mutt head to stop staging the play, apparently at the behest of another stage actor with political ambitions, but Mali refused. Having directed 40 plays in his 65-year-old career, Mali, with a keen sense of dramatic pacing and timing, has subjected many a social issue to closer scrutiny.

Some of his recent plays include 'Naam Endrum Oruvar' which talks of divorce, 'Nidarsanam' on reservation and 'Nammavargal' which emphasises the need for communal harmony. The last one was appreciated by A P J Abdul Kalam, who invited Mali to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Mali took his entire troupe to meet the President in the summer of 2007. Mali hopes to follow in the footsteps of his mentor and centenarian K S Nagarajan, to cross a 100 doing what he likes best. In his reckoning, not only is all the world a stage, the stage is all the world he knows.

(The writer is an author and historian) Email your feedback to southpole.toi@timesgroup.com