Poochu’s Productions’ ‘Theradha Thiruttu Kootam’ is a heist of laughter!

What happens when a group of friends eager to settle down quickly, end up choosing the wrong path by planning a heist? In the world of comedy, anything is possible. Taking advantage of this liberty, Poochu’s Productions has come up with their latest — yes of course — a musical, Theradha Thiruttu Kootam, wherein the plot has an unexpected twist when a gangster and his foolish apprentice hijack their (group of friends) plan, leading to chaotic and humorous consequences as they try to execute it.

Written and directed by Ramee, the idea for Theradha Thiruttu Kootam was conceived after he watched (no points for guessing) Money Heist! But unlike Money Heist, “Theradha Thiruttu Kootam promises to be a laughter-filled riot, featuring a mix of popular ’90s Tamil songs and some of the latest hits. For the first time, we’re introducing several debut singers and dancers. The assistant director, Kumaran Sethuraman, has dedicated himself to training these newcomers, and their performances have turned out wonderfully. I’m confident the audience will sing along with the cast,” says Ramee.

The script is co-written by Ramee and Kumaran, which has gone through various changes and developments. “We have planned various surprise elements and cameos of renowned theatre artistes in this play, so this should be fun. This is my second full-length Tamil musical,” Ramee adds.

Interestingly, Ramee’s first play was a comedy, so he wanted to do a horror play this time. “But my AD said, ‘No, let’s do another comedy and then shift to another genre.’ And that’s how it all started. I had written a small play a while ago about a silly heist, so I decided to develop it further and turn it into a musical. And here we are,” says the director.

How does the music add to the buildup to the heist, we ask him. “That was the fun part, finding the perfect song for every situation to elevate each scene. This includes a lot of dance numbers, romance and, of course, some grand mass entries as well. I planned to make this a full commercial masala play!” Ramee says excitedly, as he adds, “The cast members, singers, dancers and, of course, my Poochu’s family have put their heart and soul to this play since the past four months. Being a founder of Poochu’s, my biggest confidence is that we are the only theatre company who do full-length musical with amazing singers and dancers, both in English and Tamil.”

The highlight of Theradha Thiruttu Kootam is the dance, choreographed and performed by Raj, also the co-founder of Poochu’s, who tells us, “Since it’s a Tamil musical, I wanted to include some nostalgic moves. So I mostly focused on ’90s freestyle dance forms and tried to recreate some for the signature moves with our own flavour. Since many of them in the cast are beginners in terms of dancing, I made sure that choreography wasn’t complex.”

He adds, “Choreography is mostly based on the scenes. The second song of the play gives an intro about the main leads and how their characters are. The song in the third scene is about a couple who got married recently. The song in the fourth scene is about one-sided love. Then we also have a song for the villain and cops. Come, watch.”

Tickets: INR 350 to INR 1,000.

October 13, 4 pm & 7 pm.

At Alliance Française of Madras, Nungambakkam.

Email: rupam@newindianexpress.com

X: @rupsjain