The scent of rain on dry earth, the taste of freshly steamed idlis, the sound of a lullaby your grandmother once hummed, Vikram Sridhar’s Mann Vaasanai is built on these sensory fragments, weaving them into a living tapestry of Tamil folktales. The Chennai-born storyteller returns to his roots with an hour-long performance that blends myth, song and audience mischief, reminding us that stories are not just told, they are shared.
For Vikram, storytelling was never a sudden career pivot, it was a slow, steady undercurrent that ran alongside his corporate life. In 2017, Sridhar took what he thought would be a short break to see if he could make a career of it. Eight years later, he is still “drinking, breathing, doing everything with storytelling as a performing art,” as he puts it. His practice is rooted in Indian oral traditions, folktales, myths, and songs that carry ecological and cultural wisdom. And he’s determined to keep them alive in public spaces, without the mediation of technology, just as they were always meant to be experienced.
That intention flows through Mann Vaasanai, literally “the scent of the soil” in Tamil. For him, the title evokes more than nostalgia; it’s about sensory connection. “The word has so many metaphors and emotional triggers,” he explains. “It’s about closing your eyes and connecting to nature, to the five senses, to our roots.”
The performance draws from folk narratives across Tamil Nadu, from Chennai to Kanyakumari to Madurai, featuring tales of kings and queens, everyday people, relationships, and the quirks of human nature. One such story is about Topisami, a man obsessed with his hat, who slowly learns the art of detachment. Another is a folktale about the bat and how it came to hang upside down, told in versions from around the world.
But don’t expect a passive evening in the dark. Vikram believes in breaking the first wall: “If someone says they had idli for breakfast, I’ll weave that into the narrative. The audience is a co-creator, no two performances are ever the same.” Part of what sets his work apart is his attention to the Ainthinai, the five landscapes of Tamil tradition. For him, these settings aren’t just backdrops; they are characters in themselves, shaping the mood and rhythm of the tale.
As we become increasingly screen-bound, Vikram sees it as more relevant than ever: “It’s the most basic human instinct, to connect through words, voice, and presence. It’s old wine in a new bottle. The emotions don’t change, only the way we connect does.”
Rs 249. On August 17 from 3.30 pm. At IDAM, Kodambakkam.
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