A view Big Boss, Staged by Kudantai Mali and troupe. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Is there only one path to success – an engineering degree from a top-notch institute? And even if the answer is yes, what is the price to pay for it? These are among the many questions asked in PMG Mayurpriya’s new play. Big Boss (Story, Dialogue, Direction P. Muthukumaran) tells about the education scenario. This play was recently staged for Sri Thya Brahma Gana Sabha.
Centum Sethuraman (Ganapati Shankar) runs an academy where only the brightest students are admitted. He puts them through rigorous programs and is overjoyed when his students score centum marks in the board exams. His wife Soumya (Anu Suresh) tries to reason with him, telling him that the world runs on the law of averages. The excellent students are few in number, as are the ones who score very poorly. Most are in the middle and can be helped to improve their marks. But Sethuraman refuses to get rid of his obsession with centum. His teacher Sivasubramaniam (VPS Sreeraman) reminds Sethuraman that he himself was never a great student, and many mediocre students have made up his place. Moreover, helping a bright student score centum marks is no big deal but Sivasubramaniam’s death has a change of heart and he decides to teach a labourer’s son and a rowdy boy who often ran away from school.
From Kudantai Mali’s play Bigg Boss, which won the Best Play Award at Kodai Nataka Vizha 2024. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The four students are asked to live in Sethuraman’s house, and are isolated from the outside world. The test results are a credit to Sethuraman. Sethuraman is given the title of Big Boss, as he kept the students isolated like the participants of the popular TV show. Big BossThis passage seemed artificial, as if it were presented to justify the title.
Though the dialogues were well written, the script needed some trimming to make it tighter. The set was perfect but lacked any fuss. S. Aditya, G. Shiv Shankar, Dheeraj C. Mohan and S. Ananth gave excellent performances as the students.
The play has won the best play award and four other awards at Karthik Fine Arts’ Kodai Nataka Vizha this year. The rolling trophy, instituted recently by Sivaji Ganesan’s son Ramkumar Ganesan, will be given to the Mayurapriya team for the all-round performance.
