DRAMA REVIEW

[Sivan Krishnan]

An unforgettable drama.   NANGANALLUR   J K SIVAN.

Yesterday, being  a sunday, the  22nd March, 2026, I was happy to   respond to the invitation to spend a couple of hours to enjoy the social drama  staged by  my friend Kalaimamani Kudandhai Sri Mali, 'IDHO ENDHAN DHEYVAM'',   It was a program  organised by Sri Krishna Fine Arts  sabha. at Chellammal H.S.School auditorium,  at Nanganallur.

The drama commenced  exactly, at 6.45 pm. which is always the hall mark of  Mali Seva Stage,  under able guidance of  the nonagenarian Sri Mali, who  is always very  particular about  punctuality and excellent  presentation of thematic dramas. 

The theme  of  ''IDHO ENDHAN DHEIVAM''  was an exchange of  views of  antithesis between a small girl of about  10 who strongly believed in existence of  God  in  everyone's heart, and the duty conscious ablest , agnostic,   'large hearted'  cardiac surgeon Dr Asokan, a dedicated good samaritan, ever willing to help the society with his sincere medical service.     

The small girl Sruthi while performing a dance at the school anniversary function, faints and  drops down on the stage unconscious. The local hospital doctors  treating her, find a serious damage to her blood vessel linking heart to vital parts of the body, including the brain.demanding an emergency open heart surgery,  costing a fortune ofabout  35 lakhs of rupees, which the poor family of the girl can hardly manage to pool about..

Luckily the famous  heart specialist Dr Asokan  is in the city for a couple of days,to whom the child is taken,  examines her and confirms the emergency open heart surgery could certainly  save the child  from grave disaster.  The family faces all hardhips but manages to remit the  huge hospital charges, though the surgeon Dr Asokan, realising the girl's  financial background waives his fee. He even rejects the  State Governor's personal request to fly back to Delhi to attend to the ailing President of the country, as he is determined to first perform the heart operation of the child, monitoring the President's health condition through his team mates in Delhi at his hospital...

The crux of the story dramatised,  is that Dr Asokan, though a non believer, admires the strong belief of the child he has on the operation table, and at critical stages he finds that beyond his expertise and skill, something  inexplicable has saved the child restoring her life  He is shocked and surprised. 

During postoperative care, the child talks to  Dr Asokan, and her first question is ''Dr  you opened my heart, and certainly you are the only person who could have certainly seen the god inside my heart.... How does HE look like? '  The doctor  completely perplexed , humbled and fumbled,  is silenced by the girl's unshakeable  faith , replies  her '''Yes, He is  exactly  like, you,, HE IS YOU...and admits the supernatural power which  inexplicably  saved the  child despite his best care, skill and attention was THAT  only...

The drama is in a way, a picturisation of the upanishadic mahavakyham.. 'TAT THWAM  ASI. you are that.

Short and sweet, the drama  IDHO ENDHAN DHEYVAM.. was  enriched with  powerful dialogues of Mali, with able performance of the well trained actors chosen to characterise the roles, and every dialogue, scene  was appreciated by the audience with  uninterupted, frequent claps heard  in the hall.

Regrettably  the auditorium did not have effective sound system  as some of the important dialogues were not audible except for the front rows.  Particularly the actor , playing the key role of Dr Asokan's delivery was in low volume and  fast  at times, and not audible ,in some scenes,   The reason could be attributed also to position on the stage. He was almost in between the two mikes on the stage, while delivering them, inspite of his best performance.  Rest of the actors were conscious of the mikes and delivered their dialogues positioning them close to the mike... There was some delay  in between the  scenes on the stage when the stage was  kept dark with not even dim lights, spoiling the excellent mood of the audience  waiting for 'next nail biting ''scene  

CONGRATS TO ALL ..