Ningalenne Communistakki
Ningalenne Communistakki

When Hitler visited Soviet Station Kadavu

Time-travelling drama with  a relevant theme

Imagine the fascist dictator Adolf Hitler watching the KPAC’s Malayalam political theatre ‘Ningalenne Communistakki’. That is basically the premise of the recent Malayalam theatre production, Soviet Station Kadavu by Kanal Samskarika Vedi.

One interesting aspect of the plot, besides the obvious presence of Hitler, is the theme of time travelling. Adapted from Murali Krishnan’s eponymous short story, the two-hour-long play was the first Malayalam time travel drama that reviews the practices of Adolf Hitler with a mix of sarcasm. 

Eva Braun, who was also the long-time companion and wife of Hitler briefly, Nazi politicians such as Joseph Goebbels, Serbian-American inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla and communist leader of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev all come alive on the stage.

It is a Malayali local who connects the audience with these characters. Cheerani Ravi — a local lad of a fictitious place called Station Kadavu in Thiruvananthapuram.  Imagine if Hitler won the Second World War and the USSR is suffering after the defeat. To prevent that, an assassination of Hitler is on the plan, which involves a time machine. Our hero Ravi, whose house lies close to earth’s magnetic equator, is taken back to 1980 by Brezhnev with the help of the time machine invented by Tesla. Ravi’s mission is to kill Hitler in his youth to prevent the war. 

The wise usage of technology helps the team successfully convey the concept of time travelling. The Wi-Fi managed machine prop is designed by Sujith Rajan just for the theatre production.  The play is directed and scripted by Hazim Amaravila, who also directed the hit play Veendum Bhagavante Maranam, based on K R Meera’s short story. The production was a funded project of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, says Hazim. 

“Former president of the United States Abraham Lincoln once said ‘Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power’. It is true that there is a greed for power inside everyone. This theme is relevant throughout time, even during the time of Nazi Germany and now,” says Hazim, who came up with the play after reading Murali’s short story.  

“The preparations for the play started during the first Covid wave. But we had to pause it due to Covid restrictions. We started practising last year in December. We have already screened the drama in Kannur and Kollam since April this year and the acceptance of the theme gave us the confidence to conduct more shows,” adds Hazim.

The great challenge, he says, was communicating the idea of time travel to the older audience, who are the usual crowd for plays. Hazim adds the play also opened new possibilities in theatre production too. 
The dialogues were balanced with significant political interpretations and nuanced puns that elicited laughs from the crowd.

The play narrated three faces of Hitler in different stages of his life. Actors Amal Krishna, Kannan Nayar and Reju Koliyakkodu performed each stage. Amal enacted the character Ravi, who later shifts to an older Hitler, whose lust for power is present in our current society too.

“Ravi was an easygoing chap and stays similar to my true self. But I had qualms about portraying Hitler. I watched many YouTube videos of him, portrayed by other actors, especially Charlie Chaplin, to understand his mannerisms. The Hitler I portray is packed with power and rage. He is very energetic even in his latter days. So the challenge was to stand for two hours, with the same energy, and deliver the dialogues,” says Amal.

“Also, I had to convey my role shift from Ravi to Hitler to the diverse audience. That was also taxing. The laughs and claps from the crowd in between the scenes boosted my confidence. It was my first role in a mainstream drama in the past 12 years of my career,” says the 28-year-old.

Meanwhile, actor Kannan, who played a young spirited Adolf Hitler, says portraying real-life characters on stage was a challenge. “We have managed to weave the story logically. I watched video clips of real Hitler and his speeches on Youtube. Hitler has a restless nature above his hips, including his fingers. The role of Hitler from 1922 comes in between, connecting the younger and elder Hitler. The audience understood the theme. Even the part where Hitler reaches Station Kadavu in 2022,” says Kannan.

However, the lack of financial support is a major issue that troubles the team. “In a world of social media and OTT platforms, it is challenging to stage a play. But the wise usage of new media for promotion by releasing character posters help woo the young crowd to the audience,” he says.

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