Was Oor Koodi Ther Izhu a play on faith or themed around water?

The play didn’t quite fit in with the theme of a series celebrating Mother Earth

Puratchipadai Productions’ play Oor Koodi Ther Izhu (written and directed by Nandhakumar) takes its name from a popular Tamil saying — to get things moving, people must unite. The team presented stories about the Azhagar and Madurai Meenakshi temples, and the Chithirai festival. To bring everyone together, without denominational differences, King Thirumalai Nayak merged the Meenakshi wedding festival and Azhagar festival into one. Devotees of the deity Karuppan participate in the festival, because Azhagar takes permission from Karuppan before leaving the temple.

The use of shadow puppetry in the play was innovative. The tune of the iconic Malayalam boat song Kuttanadan punjaiyile was used for the song Malaya Desam thottu, when thieves arrive in a boat to steal an idol. Pictures and videos in the background added to the visual appeal of the play. There was also a clever use of props. For example, each of the actors had a blue cloth, which served as many things — water, baby Meenakshi and a garland. The cast (Sahana, Anthony Xavier and Nandhakumar) captured the audience’s interest.

However, one was left with some questions. The play began with the disclaimer that it was not about faith. If a playwright feels devotion should not be portrayed in a play, that is fine. But you cannot then have an entire narration, tongue-in-cheek though it might be, about a temple festival and the sthalapurana of temples. If the idea was to show togetherness during a festival, the theme could have been explored from a different angle. Do temple festivals foster a spirit of camaraderie? Of course, they do. But are temple festivals about faith? Most certainly. Then came the second disclaimer - it was not a ‘sangi’ play. What was the need to bring in politics?

In the introduction, we were told that the play was about water. How often did water feature in the play? Suthapa’s penance is under water. Azhagar crosses the Vaigai to attend Meenakshi’s wedding. People squirt water on Azhagar during the festival. To claim on the basis of this, that the play is about water was a bit of a stretch. And so, the play didn’t quite fit in with the theme of Bhavan’s series celebrating Mother Earth.