(Article by Murali Vidhyadharan)
I came to London from Kerala, India in 1973, aged 14. I was passionate about acting while I was in Kerala. Won Best Actor award in a drama competition at Sivagiri High School when I was in the 8th standard. Acted in 2 further dramas before I came to London. Once in London, I concentrated on my studies and it was when I was starting my 2nd year undergraduate studies at Imperial College,
Mission was formed and I was elected as the youngest member of the Founding Committee. The below is a write-up about the drama activities I was involved in at the Mission since its formation.
The first Guru Jayanthi celebration was held at East Ham Town Hall in September 1979. I performed a Mono act at the event to the shock of everyone! I was known as a quiet, shy person and no one knew I could act. The director of Kairali Arts club, Mr Devadasa Panicker, immediately offered me a role in their next drama. We performed at subsequent Guru Jayanthi the following dramas: -
Agnivalyam, Visudha Paapam and Aneshanam. In the meantime, Kairali also held drama events and I had good roles in those as well. Kairali only charged Mission their cost, which sharply increased over the years. At this point I suggested to Mr VK Narayanan, an artist/actor/director and Leading founder of the Mission, that Mission should produce its own dramas. As an experiment I took the
initiative to produce and perform a small comedy play called ‘Naale Kanunnavane Innu Kaanunnilla’ at the first Guru Jayanthi Celebration in Croydon in 1982. This was a success and then produced and performed a full-length comedy play called ‘PENN KOONTHAN’ in 1983 and it was a hit! I played the lead role in both plays. These were directed by Mr V K Narayanan. I then had to take over Mission’s General Secretary’s post in 1984 and lead the difficult Building Project for the next 10 years and therefore, I had no time to devote to producing plays for the Mission but still acted in couple of Dramas of Kairali. Once Mission’s building project was completed and it was inaugurated in 1994, I was able to recommence the drama activities. I wrote a play called ‘ Njayarum Njayavum’ and performed it in the Mission Hall. It was based on Malayalee life in London and I played the lead role. I also brought in new actors like Mr Jayaprakash, Mr Keerthy, Mr Giridharan etc. Mr Subash, Mr Sunil, and Mr Jose Viswambaran also acted for the first time. It was difficult to get ladies to act inplays at the time, so I modified a small script called ‘Gandhi Jayanthi’ and brought ladies into it. This
was a ladies only play. Mrs Geeja Srilal, Mrs. Latha Asok Kumar, Mrs Sulochana Sreedharan, Mrs Radha Gopinathan, Miss Kavitha Murali, Miss Dhanya Asok Kumar etc acted in this play. These plays were directed by Mr Sasikumar.
We produced a play called ‘ Vazhithiruvu’ in 1996, performed in Mission Hall as well as at a drama competition in Croydon. I and Mr Satheesh played the lead roles. Mr Keerthy, Mr Jayaprakash , Mr Giridharan, Mr Asok Kumar and Mr Jose Sreedharan also acted in this. We then produced a big famous play called ‘ MANALKKADU’ in 1997 and gave 2 performances in Mission Hall. This was a huge success. I played the lead role. Others were Mrs Geeja Srilal, Mrs Latha Asok Kumar, Mr Keerthi Somarajan, Mr Jayaprakash, Mr Rajesh, Mr Sudheer etc. This play was directed by Mr Sasikumar. In 1997 we also produced a short play called Kinnarathinte Keni. This was performed in Mission. I played the lead role along with Mr Jayaprakash and Mrs Latha Asok Kumar.
In 1999 we produced ‘Nirthu Ithu Enneppattiyaanu’ – a short play. Again, I played the lead role along with Mr Jayaprakash, and Mrs Latha Asok Kumar . This was also performed at the Kerala Catholic Association’s Christmas celebration. We produced ‘Pattini Veeranmar’ in 2000 and performed again in 2001. I played the lead role along with Mr Jayaprakash, Mr Gopinathan and Mrs Radha Gopinathan
I also acted in the play ‘ Sneha Gaayakan’ – directed by Sasi Kulamada , ‘Gurudevan’ – directed by Vijayakumar Pillai (Croydon) and a comedy skit between 2015 and 2018. In 2019 Mission produced a big play called ‘ ADVAITHAM’ as part of Mission’s 40-year celebration – directed by Sasi Kulamada. I played a leading role in this and it was a hit. Other actors included Satheesh, Babu, Ajith, Jason George, Keerthy Somarajan, Giridharan Vidhyadharan, Sudevan, Geeja Sreelal, Manju Mandirathil, Aswathy, and Mallika Natarajan, Sujith and Arun. Mission’s Arts Wing Sree Narayana Guru Arts Centre was set up in 1997 while I was the General Secretary and it was subsequently launched as GURUPRABHA.
May GURUPRABHA grow from strength to strength with blessings of the Guru!
List of plays
1979 – Mono act to the song “Paampukalkku Maadamundu” – 1st Guru Jayanthi - London
1980 – Agnivalayam – Mission/Kairali
1982 – Visudha Paapam – Mission/Kairali
1982 – Naale kanunnavane Innu Kanunnilla – Mission – Lead role
1983 – Penn Koonthan - Mission – Lead role
1986 – Anyaeshanam – Mission/Kairali
1995 – Njayarum Njayavum – Mission (Play written by me based on London Malayali life) – Lead role
1996 – Gandhi Jayanthi – (writing Only)
1996 - Vashithiruvu – Mission/Croydon Competition) – Lead role
1997 – Manalkkadu – Mission – Lead role
1997 – Kinnarathinte Keni - Mission – Lead role
1999 – Nirthu – Ithu Anne Patti Aanu – Mission – Lead role
2000 – Pattini Veeranmaar – Mission – Lead role
2001 – Pattini Veeranmaar – Mission – Lead role
2015 – Sneha Gaayakan - Mission
2016 – Gurudevan -Mission
2018 – Comedy Skit - Mission
2019 – Advaitham – Mission – Lead role (on You Tube)