SETTING NEW GOALS AND BOUNDARIES

Veteran Tamil playwright Kaniyuran reflects on his decades-long journey in theatre, the evolution of his craft and his passion for storytelling

- K V VASUDEVAN

MONG a plethora of awards, Tamil stage dramatist and writer Kaniyuran picked the SV Sahasranamam award (due to receive on February 19, on the 111th birth anniversary of the legend). The nonagenarian rewinds his memory and shares snippets of his career. Based in Coimbatore, Kaniyuran believes he was fortunate that many of his plays penned by him were good enough to be staged in Chennai in an era where the elites of the Tamil stage ruled the metropolis. He says, "The icing on the cake was when Divan Bahadur C P Ramasamy presided, heaped encomiums and draped the award on me."

A school dropout, Kaniyuran said his early interest was kindled in the annual plays at school when he won the best actor award for the play penned by him. In an era where finding a job was equivalent to impossible, Kaniyuran hit upon the idea of opening a job typing centre yielding great returns. "The idea was to think outside the box as there were many aspirants who had already made an impact. Deep inside, there was a longing to dive into the world of politics, inspired by the satirical plays of Cho. But then, I had to be different even if I had borrowed the ideas."

On the humongous impact of his debut play 'Amateur Aravamudhu', Kaniyuran said he had to double up as an actor besides penning the script. "Acting was not in me but then, I had to do justice to my script which was heavily laced with humour and a bit of sarcasm. The audience simply loved the way where the characters spoke their mind without any inhibition. The stage was set for further laurels as the media lavished its praise on an unsung newcomer."