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Creating magic with space

KAUSALYA SANTHANAM

Excellent Mani, behind-the-scene wonder of the Tamil stage, has been honoured for his 50 years of service.

Photo: N. Sridharan

Felicitated: Excellent Mani.

A plane lands and the passengers disembark; a warship is wrecked to smithereens; a helicopter hovers in the air above a dense forest; palatial buildings, humble dwellings, parks and streets materialise — from the spectacular to the humdrum,  220;Excellent” Mani, the king of Tamil mainstream set design, has created them all. Priya Cultural Academy and Mayan Theatres held a felicitation function for the artiste recently, in the presence of AVM Saravanan, at the Rani Seethai Hall for completing 50 years of service to the stage.

A host of personalities connected with cinema and Tamil drama participated in the function.

ARS, Visu, Mouli, Sachu, S.Ve.Shekher, Raadhu and America Anantha spoke of Mani’s dedication and versatility, and the manner in which he had enriched their productions.

Down memory lane

Later, Mani took a trip down the lane of theatre nostalgia with this correspondent. “My romance with the stage began with acting,” he mused. “In 1954, America Anantha asked me to act the role of the villain in his play “Niraindha Ullam.”

The histrionic journey was soon curtailed as Mani fractured his leg and decided to devote himself to creating the backdrop for the action.

“I was asked to fashion the sets for Vani Kala Mandir’s ‘Deviyar Iruvar’ in which Sachu and ARS acted. This was followed by assignments for five more plays of the troupe,” recalls Mani, who has been associated with the lead players of Tamil drama such as Thangavelu, S.Ve.Shekher and Crazy Mohan.

He has worked extensively for Mayan Theatres and United Amateur Artistes. Mani has also been involved in the stage productions of film artistes Manorama, Sivakumar, Sripriya and Delhi Ganesh, among others.

“Those were the days,” sighed the designer. “In a single day, we would have to erect sets for plays presented by different troupes staged at various sabhas. I once undertook the job for ten plays presented by the same troupe over 24 hours.”

Challenges cropped up often. The material rewards were meagre, arguments often arising over a princely sum of Rs. 150 as payment.

“I remember how once when there was torrential rain, I thought the performance of Visu’s ‘Kudumbam Oru Kadamabam’ was off. But he landed up at home to demand why the sets had not been erected and I had to rush to Tambaram in the heavy downpour to put them up.

“For Visu’s ‘Uravukku Kai Koduppom,’ which was later made into the film ‘Samsaram Athu Minsaaram,’ I had to conjure up question marks above the characters’ heads and for Sridhar’s ‘Adi Sankara,’ lotuses at every step taken in the water,” Mani reminisced.