play wright-alex vallikunnam

[padmanabha]

Malayalam drama is his passion since school days. But he never thought that one-day he would stage plays, author books and document the history of Malayalam drama. His power point slide shows on Malayalam drama are being screened in various educational institutions. His innovation ekapatra natakam is catching up in the Malabar region and recently the theater lovers organized ekapatra natakam festival. Meet Alex Vallikunnam.

“Vallikunnam is a remote village near Kayamkulam, where dramas were staged during festival seasons. Heavy themes and the sharp dialogues of Thoppil Bhasi, KTMuhammed, N N Pillai and SL Puram Sadanandan reverberated in the festival ground. But being a member of a conservative Christian family and the son of a military man I had to dot the i.s and cross the t’s. So reaching the venue was out of question. Whenever I escaped I was punished for the offence. I was not even allowed to attend the school day function when I was a primary school student. I desperately watched other students walking proudly with their parents who held a burning torch. Every week the school organized cultural meets. Interested students presented their works like short stories, criticism and essays. I had presented many essays and one day I wrote a social play directed it and courageously staged it. I was only 12 then. I received much appreciation from my teachers.. Since then I acted in many plays in the school, without the knowledge of my parents. Gradually I started organizing literary meets” revealed Alex.

“Turning point occurred when I got a government job at the age of twenty-two. The postings were initially in Palakkad and then in this city where I had the opportunity to see plenty of plays. I was a free bird. Then I wrote reviews and criticism. As a reporter I went to a drama camp organized by the Sangeeta Nataka Academy. Its objective was to covert Munshi Premchand’s novel Rangabhoomi into a play. Jose Chiramel was the camp director for whom I have high regard. Unexpectedly I was asked to participate in the treatment and improvisation of the play. It was a great experience for me. I could be a part of the thought process, at this camp, which was a great revelation in many ways” said Alex.

He is always deeply moved by the news on mentally challenged persons especially women. Alex made a documentary on this subject for Doordarshan. It was followed by a documentary on Chelakkottethu Kunjiraman –the hero of Sooranad revolution-connected with the murder of five policemen. “Thoppil Bhasi has written many articles connected with this issue. But I could document the version of Kunjiraman itself.” Said Alex.
During these years he gathered plenty of information on Malayalam drama. He put them in the chronological order filled the gaps and it became worth to be screened as a slide show. Then he directed CJ Thomas’s play CRIME FILE 1128 that was staged in 1952. It was well received. “As an amateur I had tried this play, which ended as a big flop. Recently it was staged at Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan. Ayyappa Panicker had worked with CJ in this play. He gladly came for the show and appreciated my efforts in making it more contemporary. It was staged at the Soorya festival as well. Now it has more takers but I am not in a position accept the offer, as it is very tough to coordinate participants. It is a crisis of a kind faced by the Malayalam drama” he revealed. “I have selected a few stories, which can very well be staged. I have to work on that. During my on going research on drama I could identify a kind of treatment that remained ignored till recently. I coined it ekapatram. There are no multiple roles played by one actor. Throughout the play there is only one character” said Alex Vallikunnam.