1000 Love Letters: Something special from God's Own Country

1000 Love Letters
We were witness to 1000th staging of Malayalam drama "Love Letter" on May 21, 2017 in the open air theatre in the Tagore Theatre premises in Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram. 
The drama based on a short novel by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (Premalekhanam meaning 'Love letter') has only two characters Keshavan Nayar and Saramma given life to by seasoned, trained theatre artists Amal Raj and Divyalakshmi, husband and wife in real life. 
The fairly big square open stage had about 1000 drama enthusiasts sitting/standing around. V S Achuthanandan, Chairman, Administrative Reforms Commission, Kerala inaugurated the function in the presence of dignitaries including veteran Malayalam movie producer and actor Madhu.
It was cloudy and some of us were really worried, what would happen, if it rained. In God's Own Country, when a crowd of the kind we were part of silently pray, rains too will wait.
The story was a simple love story of 20th Century with usual ingredients: Boy from an orthodox Nayar family, rich and educated. Girl, from a Christian family with no resources to pay dowry and so on.
The story progresses on usual lines, periodical meetings between girl and boy, attempts to exchange love letters and a happy ending when the boy gets a job away from the village and both boy and girl decided to marry and live a life not following the prescriptions of Religion or tradition.
The skill of the artists and strength of the script keep the audience spell-bound all through.
Surya Krishnamurti's direction made the presentation perfect.
Thought the experience was worth sharing.

M G Warrier

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