What’s cooking? The industrialist is generously offering a scrumptious full course dinner to every invitee at his home. A chopper hovering above, greets the guests with a floral shower. The who’s who from the silver screen make it a point to be there upon special invitation. We are getting bombarded every other day with real-life stories of rich men in a rat race to make their children’s wedding the next best wonder in the world; this in fact is less pompous an affair. The shocker is in the context — the occasion is a funeral at the residence of a VIP who lost his wife!
Ka...Kakka, a ‘neighbourhood’ play on this theme has been staged many a time. Laced with black humour, the play is an adaptation of author Chandramathi’s short story Kakka. “The play is an independent adaptation. It is an initiative of theatre enthusiasts from a sleepy countryside of Pottayil in the capital city,” says Syam Raji, one of the main actors of the play.
The snobbery is palpable. The industrialist palm-greases the minister to add the wife’s biography in textbooks and agencies are roped in to drum up likes and shares on Facebook. He tried to get the obit front paged on newspapers, but disappointingly it appears in a tiny column in an inside page.
Finally, some close kin must perform the last rites. Their kids being abroad, a grandson manages to fly down to Kerala on short notice for an even shorter visit — just one day. The event managers squeeze in the 41-day rituals in 24 hours so that the boy won’t miss his return flight, taking the plot to its twist. The play has been to 30 stages.
