Chennai: With Thuglak and Cho Ramawamy having become synonymous, TV Varadharajen's new play Thuglak Durbar evoked enthusiastic response from drama buffs at Vani Mahal on a hot Sunday morning
The play, a political satire, has interesting plot, good structure, eye-catching but not distracting backdrops and lively characters tailor-made for modern-day audience.
The play opens with Cho Ramaswamy giving an introduction to the play and the characters. The scene shifts to heaven where Cho and Narada have a discussion and decide to send Sultan Mohamed Bin Thuglak and Badhudha to Tamil Nadu to correct the political system by fielding only honest and 'good' candidates in elections. Sultan Thuglak poses several questions and Cho answers them in his inimitable style evoking peals of laughter and applause from the audience. Do Thuglak and Badhudha cleanse the political system in Tamil Nadu and establish a corruption-free rule forms the rest of the story.
The play portrays the fall in standards of public probity and exhorts people to cast their vote with responsibility. Thuglak Durbar, inspired by Cho Ramaswamy's play and later film, Muhammad bin Tughlak, mocks at politicians and political parties even while reflecting the shocking reality.
TV Varadharajen as Thuglak plays his role to perfection. Shankar Kumar as Badhudha lends full support to him. P. T. Ramesh does a good job by imitating Cho’s mannerisms like pulling his ear and clearing his throat often while speaking.
Special mention must be made about Girish Venkat who portrays popular actor-turned politician Shankar and speaks alliterative and rhyming words which make no sense. Kudos to Ramanujan (TV reporter Bhuvanendran), Swayamprakash (Vajravelu), Elango (Govindasamy) and Lakshmi (Opposition leader Mangamma).
It is Thuglak Sathya's story and dialogues which holds the audience's attention till the end. Dramatised and directed by TV Varadharajen, the play attempts to make a commentary on state politics and mindset of voters with the right dose of comedy and fantasy.
