'I don't like to commercialise my works'
Suhasini Maniratnam has donned many hats — that of an actress, film director, producer, writer and an activist, but for the first time she’s directing a play, titled I am an actor, your honour, which will be staged during the Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Award on August 12 at the Music Academy. Says Suhasini, “It’s a fantasy play; a bio-drama about the life of my father Charuhasan’s career as a lawyer, based on a book published by his friend. It will explore the relationship between a father and a daughter. There’s so much to learn from the older generation, which we comfortably ignore.”
Ask her how the play came about, the actress laughs, “Subba Rao wanted a play for the occasion, but I suggested him to go with a music concert. I even assured that I’d get him musicians for the evening,” and adds, “Initially, we were looking for authors, but Subba Rao bought my father’s book Thinking On My Feet, a collection of interesting cases that he had dealt with when he was a lawyer. I thought I’d write the script, but he insisted that I direct the play, too.”
The 75-minute English play will have Y Gee Mahendra playing the character of Charuhasan and his daughter Madhuvanthi Arun playing Suhasini, besides Thalaivasal Vijay, Arvind Radhakrishnan and VJ Ramya, essaying important characters.
“Sometime ago, I met Y Gee sir and told him that I was working on the play. I expressed my interest to rope him and his daughter in for my play if it comes out well. And, it did!” she says, with her trademark radiant smile. Interestingly, Suhasini has shot over 30% of the play on camera, to make it a wholesome theatre and cinematic experience for the audience. “This is not one of those run-of-the-mill plays. I wanted to do something different. So, we shot some of the portions previously like a movie. On the stage, we can’t show some of the transitions of characters, right? Plays include flashbacks. I am talking about the charatcers in their earlier days and other things. Those parts have been shot,” she says.
But having directed Indira (1995), which had her sister Anu Hasan and Arvind Swami in the lead, quiz her if she found directing a play challenging, she says, “I did something called ‘Reading Between the Lines’ for an NGO. Then, I was a part of dance production called ‘Antaram’. So, it’s not something new. Writing has always been there. Its just that I don’t prefer to publish most of them or take credit. But I always circulate them to my friends, peers and family. I don’t like to commercialise my works.”
Suhasini finished the script in 20 days. “I wrote the initial draft in England when I was with Anu. You can’t speak theatre or cinema; they don’t have alphabets. You can only emote. The best part is that I had a blast doing it. Usually, I have a sound sleep. But the last couple of weeks have been tedious, because when I create something good, it doesn’t let me sleep. I think about it constantly. So, now I know I’ve done some good work. The play will also have 100 sketches by Amita, daughter of Madan (actor).”
(The piece was originally written for The New Indian Express)
Ask her how the play came about, the actress laughs, “Subba Rao wanted a play for the occasion, but I suggested him to go with a music concert. I even assured that I’d get him musicians for the evening,” and adds, “Initially, we were looking for authors, but Subba Rao bought my father’s book Thinking On My Feet, a collection of interesting cases that he had dealt with when he was a lawyer. I thought I’d write the script, but he insisted that I direct the play, too.”
The 75-minute English play will have Y Gee Mahendra playing the character of Charuhasan and his daughter Madhuvanthi Arun playing Suhasini, besides Thalaivasal Vijay, Arvind Radhakrishnan and VJ Ramya, essaying important characters.
“Sometime ago, I met Y Gee sir and told him that I was working on the play. I expressed my interest to rope him and his daughter in for my play if it comes out well. And, it did!” she says, with her trademark radiant smile. Interestingly, Suhasini has shot over 30% of the play on camera, to make it a wholesome theatre and cinematic experience for the audience. “This is not one of those run-of-the-mill plays. I wanted to do something different. So, we shot some of the portions previously like a movie. On the stage, we can’t show some of the transitions of characters, right? Plays include flashbacks. I am talking about the charatcers in their earlier days and other things. Those parts have been shot,” she says.
But having directed Indira (1995), which had her sister Anu Hasan and Arvind Swami in the lead, quiz her if she found directing a play challenging, she says, “I did something called ‘Reading Between the Lines’ for an NGO. Then, I was a part of dance production called ‘Antaram’. So, it’s not something new. Writing has always been there. Its just that I don’t prefer to publish most of them or take credit. But I always circulate them to my friends, peers and family. I don’t like to commercialise my works.”
Suhasini finished the script in 20 days. “I wrote the initial draft in England when I was with Anu. You can’t speak theatre or cinema; they don’t have alphabets. You can only emote. The best part is that I had a blast doing it. Usually, I have a sound sleep. But the last couple of weeks have been tedious, because when I create something good, it doesn’t let me sleep. I think about it constantly. So, now I know I’ve done some good work. The play will also have 100 sketches by Amita, daughter of Madan (actor).”
(The piece was originally written for The New Indian Express)
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