It’s been more than four decades since Crazy Creations, the brainchild of the late ‘Crazy’ Mohan and his brother R Balaji, fondly known as ‘Maadhu’ Balaji, has been enthralling the audience with their humorous acts. The theatre troupe, which was established in 1979, has made such an impression on the audience that even today, their shows are packed to the rafters. Indulge caught up with Balaji ahead of their show, Meesai Aanalum Manaivi, to be staged this week.
Four decades and still going strong...What’s the secret to the fabulous run?
Clean humour! Our jokes are sans vulgarity, politics or body shaming. They revolve around problems we face in our daily lives, involving family, friends or neighbours. Hence, people from all generations are able to connect with them. This is precisely the reason films like Avvai Shanmugi or Panchathanthiram, too, continue to resonate with audiences.
You have played the same character Maadhu in all your plays. How do you manage to keep it interesting?
I began my stint in theatre when I was barely 18 years old. Though my character’s name is Maadhu, he has different shades in all the plays. We weave in a lot of elements to make it engaging. In fact, one of my well-wishers had even asked me to apply for the Guinness record, because not many artistes have played the same character for 45 years. The rest of the characters in our plays, too, are the same. For instance, Seenu. And what’s interesting is that the audience already knows what to expect and brace themselves for the witty lines before they are delivered.
After Crazy Mohan’s demise, how have things changed?
We have been taking in a lot of youngsters into the troupe. For instance, we have roped in a 27-year-old youngster to play Seenu. We plan the rehearsals in a way that they do not disturb their professional lives. We have made some minor tweaks in terms of our working style, too.
At a time when the attention span among young audiences is taking a hit, how challenging is it to keep the audience glued to their seats?
We want to appeal to all sections of the audience, be it young or old. In our plays, you will see many youngsters and most of them tend to be repeat audiences. That’s because healthy humour works for everyone. It helps them forget their problems in life. For instance, our play Chocolate Krishna has already completed 1,100 shows. Meesai Aanalum Manaivi, which is all set to be staged next week, has completed 825 shows.
Do you think Tamil theatre needs to experiment more, apart from comedy?
Not really! There are some excellent plays in Tamil that delve into serious subjects. Y Gee Mahendra’s Charukesi revolves around a classical musician battling Alzheimer’s. Artistes like TV Varadharajen and ‘Dummies’ Sreevathson, too, have churned out some fantastic plays. At Crazy Creations, we stick to comedy because that’s our forte. Tamil theatre has churned out some of the biggest names in the film industry, who went on to make a mark in the industry. Be it Nagesh, VS Raghavan or Muthuraman, they all had theatre backgrounds.
Has the dependency on theatre come down in the recent years in the film industry?
In the days of yore, directors would come to watch plays, spot talents and then rope them in for their movies. Y Gee Mahendra took the plunge into movies after K Balachander was moved by his performance in one of the plays. Veteran directors Balu Mahendra and CV Sridhar, too, followed suit. Today, film directors hardly come to watch plays. Recently, one of the directors called me and asked me to recommend an actor in his mid-20s from my troupe. I told him that suggesting an actor wouldn’t be right. I instead asked him to come, watch a play and choose himself.
What’s the plan ahead for Crazy Creations?
There are quite a few comedy scenes and situations conceived by Mohan that we haven’t used. We are going to weave them together and bring out a new play. In the meantime, we are planning to stage Chocolate Krishna in Australia.
Tickets start at ` 500. January 27, 5.45 pm. At Mylapore Fine Arts Club.
You can contact the writer over email at sangeetha.p@newindianexpress.com and follow her on Twitter @psangeetha2112