Latest news with #Therukoothu
Time of India
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Mixtura Vizha returns to enthrall Chennai
Chennai: A performance by a woman Therukoothu artiste, a brass ensemble by the Sunshine Orchestra or a Tamil play; which is your cup of tea? Whichever it is, there's no way of knowing what you will end up watching this Friday evening; that's Mixtura Vizha for you. The fourth edition of 'Mixtura Vizha Returns: Chennai's Public Arts Festival' will be held from 5pm to 7.30pm on July 18. Nine artistes will perform at Thiru Vi Ka Park, Shenoy Nagar, and the newly built amphitheatre at Kathipara Urban Square. However, there's a twist. The performance schedule is a surprise. "Attendees are encouraged to pick a venue and come with open minds, ready to be moved, delighted, and inspired," said Shreya Nagarajan Singh, founder, SNS Arts Development Consultancy, who is conducting the event in collaboration with KM Music Conservatory, Chennai Metro Rail Limited, Greater Chennai Corporation, and The Glassbox. The entry is free and open to all. Among the events on the schedule is a western classical piano performance by Adam Greig, a Carnatic music performance by Adityanarayan, a brass ensemble from the sunshine orchestra, a Bharatanatyam performance by Charumathi Chandrasekar, a blend of genres from techno to jazz by singer K S Thejal, 'Maakadigaram', a 30-minute Tamil play by Thedal arts theatre, a Tamil medley and dance fusion by Dr J Jayalalithaa music and fine arts university. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Beyond Text Generation: An AI Tool That Helps You Write Better Grammarly Install Now Undo Thilagavathi Palani will perform 'Alli Thilagam', her debut contemporary Kattaikkuthu solo work. Kattaikkuthu is an art form usually performed by men, even the female roles. Thilagavathi Palani is the first woman to present it as a full-time professional. You Can Also Check: Chennai AQI | Weather in Chennai | Bank Holidays in Chennai | Public Holidays in Chennai "We love Chennai, and we love public spaces. The joy is also in seeing these art forms in places where you never expect them, like a station or a park. Public spaces belong to everybody and everybody should have access to art, especially live arts," said Shreya. She added that even the policemen who were on security duty last year said they had never listened to opera music live and had quite enjoyed the experience.
The Hindu
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
This theatre festival celebrates Tamil theatre personality A Mangai and her works in feminism
A Mangai says she only has 15 minutes for a conversation. The prominent Tamil theatre personality who has written, directed and starred in several plays; authored a book; and been an activist for years now, says that she is pressed for time because she is busy writing the closing speech for Kulavai 2025, a two-day theatre festival on June 8 and 9 in association with Marappachi, her theatre group , and the Alliance Française of Madras. At the event, one will watch excerpts of productions she has created, besides two full-length plays. They will speak of Sri Lanka, Palestine, feminism, queerness, survival, liberation and the consistent, palpable poignancy through it all. Some plays that will be staged include Avvai, Stree Parvam and Pani Thee. Over her career spanning 40 years, Mangai has chosen to speak of violence in the realm of caste, class, sexuality and gender. Having collaborated with a remarkable number of people across social structures, the theatre personality jumps from incidents, her origin stories, personalities she has encountered, and progressive philosophies, over call. 'My eyes are tearing up every time I think of the journey. It is the small things,' she says with a light shake in her voice, as she speaks of this speech that needs writing. Rapidly though, she gains composure and tells us about why her long-term collaborators pitched this retrospective to celebrate her work. Most people who are associated with Mangai, including the likes of her lighting artiste M Surendar, have worked with her for a minimum of 15 years. To him, celebrating Mangai seems obvious. 'Nobody has brought in as many women artistes on stage or subverted the Mahabharata or other religious texts with a feminist lens like she has in Tamil. She has shared these interesting stories with audiences,' he says. Mangai instead, believes that those who have worked with her have found tremendous space for collaboration with other artistes like Therukoothu dancers, academics, film personalities and artists. That is why this retrospective has been created. 'I do not see it as a nostalgic gloating celebration. Well, yes, it's a celebration, but it's also a reflection of where that generation wants to be today. I'm just a figurehead,' she says. Mangai entered the world of theatre back in the 1980s through the Chennai Kalai Kuzhu. She aligned with the progressive left and subsequently, the women's movement. Over the years, she has travelled to several districts in Tamil Nadu, taking feminism to the masses through performance art. 'I knew that there was one enemy and I had to fight. But then I think I woke up quite early. By 1992, Voicing Silence (another troupe) was formed,' she says. Here, they fought for 50% representation of women 'at least on stage,' she adds. The journey has hence veered towards ensuring that vulnerable groups find comfortable spaces on stage. Many of the theatre artistes performing on Saturday and Sunday are from the queer community. Learning from the community and consistently creating spaces for the trans community to occupy within the gender spectrum, has been an active effort. 'I use the word radical vulnerabilities by Richa Nagar a lot. You know, how when people get together despite all the burdens and pass on empathy or solidarity despite the vulnerabilities,' she says. The stage, she hopes, venerates the same and finds space to accommodate those from the margins. 'There is a deep sense of sadness in just surviving. Through art, we have found ways to talk about it and heal from within. Perhaps, even make it palatable. But now, I do not care about being palatable. I just want to raise as many uncomfortable questions as possible. Nothing else,' she says. 'Oh, we've spoken for 22 minutes,' she says, hanging up. Kulavai is on June 8 and 9 at Alliance Française of Madras, Nungambakkam between 10am and 6.30pm. On June 8, an open-mic event is scheduled. Entry is free.
Hindustan Times
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Designer Vino Supraja is winning awards for an unusual fashion formula
'Every step in my career has been unplanned,' laughs fashion designer Vino Supraja, 45, 'but it has prepared me for exactly where I am today.' Her journey is testament to the power of serendipity, she adds. How else could a girl who 'spoke almost no English', growing up in the small temple town of Vandavasi in Tamil Nadu, end up winning a trailblazer award and delivering a speech on India's culture of sustainability, at the British House of Commons? 'I've grown to accept that when I'm willing to let go, be dismantled and reassembled, good things happen to me,' she says. Supraja started out, for instance, with a degree in architecture from Chennai. It was there that she met and fell in love with her husband 'and best friend' Deepak Renganathan, a marketing vice-president with a real-estate company. Eager to explore some of the new technology emerging in the early 2000s, she then completed a course in animation. This led to her first full-time job, as a TV presenter and radio jockey with Jaya TV. At this point, in 2011, her husband was offered a position in China, and she and their son Hriday (then six and now a medical student) moved with him. 'I spent hours browsing through courses there, trying to find something I could do,' Supraja says. That's when she stumbled upon a listing for a course in fashion design at the Shanghai outpost of the International Fashion Academy, Paris. 'This and a business course were the only two listings with websites in English, so I don't think I had much of a choice,' she says, laughing. Suddenly, it came together: her love of storytelling, her love of building, her passion for the arts. Here was a discipline where she could combine all three. Her graduate collection in 2014, inspired by the book The Kite Runner, made it to the Shanghai Fashion Week, where she won the Golden Laureate award. Her collections have since featured at the Brooklyn Fashion Week (2016), New York Fashion Week (2018), and London Fashion Week (2023), with designs increasingly rooted in Tamil culture. The instantly recognisable costumes of the ancient Tamil folk art form of Therukoothu (literally, Street Theatre) are reborn as ensembles. The iconic Bhavani jamakkalam stripes turn up in contemporary vibrancy, as accents on clutches and handbags. *** If it seems like Supraja is weaving her stories in fresh and surprising ways, it's partly because she grew up without the frames of reference of most of the urbanised world, she says. Folk lore took the place of fairy tales in her home. Her family had no TV set. Her father, the physician Dr Audikesavalu, opened up his house to patients from nearby villages that included Purisai, a hub of Therukoothu performers. The local temple hosted a range of folk artists too. 'These productions were not perfect. They were crude, raw and unpolished... which made them beautiful in their own way,' Supraja says. Her mother, Vimala Audikesavalu, ran a local school and was known for her collection of handloom saris, which she washed, starched and sun-dried every weekend, in a ritual that served as a bonding session for mother and daughter (and gave Supraja an early appreciation for and understanding of heirloom garments, traditional weaves and sustainable fashion). Syncretism was everywhere. The local church hosted Bharatnatyam classes. The Therukoothu performers let children from the neighbourhood watch and sometimes help with makeup backstage. 'My childhood was a patchwork of simple experiences but these fragments shaped me into who I am today,' she says. *** Given the opportunity to present a collection at London Fashion Week 2023, she decided to give Therukoothu 'the platform it deserves'. Her designs captured the depth and drama of the art form in flowy silhouettes. She showcased the art form itself too, through a one-minute performance by a Therukoothu artiste. Her latest collection is born of her travels to Bhavani in Erode district, to study the GI-tagged jamakkalam weave. The colourful stripes were traditionally used to make cotton rugs. She reimagines them as couture because 'if they can look like Gucci stripes, they deserve to sit alongside them too'. 'Having had my share of the limelight, I now find myself thinking: Who can I share this moment with?' Supraja says. Her eponymous label uses natural fibres and pigments. She offers to buy items back from customers after 18 months, in exchange for purchase points, and has plans to upcycle these items too. In her speech at the House of Commons, she advocated for garment workers' rights. Without the right kind of intervention, their livelihoods — which have tended to be embodiments of sustainability and yet have been tenuous and marginalised — will become even more challenging, she pointed out, 'as we encourage people to buy less'. She was awarded the Global Sustainable Fashion Trailblazer prize at the House of Commons (awarded jointly by the World Tamil Organization and the UK government) partly for her unusual approach to fashion, and for her work to promote undervalued and underestimated traditional crafts. Supraja's sustainability efforts have also yielded a self-published book (aimed at helping people navigate questions of consumerism), a podcast and a theatrical production. The designer, who now lives in Dubai, is looking forward to her next showcase at London Fashion Week, in September. And to more sustainability outreach work, particularly with children. 'Kids will ask if it's okay to buy new clothes for their birthday,' she smiles. 'They grasp the wastefulness of buying a new outfit to celebrate a friend's birthday.' Her hope is that, with enough of these conversations, they will grow into adults who treasure their heirloom garments, avoid fast fashion, and never buy into a microtrend.
New Indian Express
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Myyal director APG Elumalai Interview: My challenge was to enhance Jeyamohan sir's screenplay
The film also stars Supergood Subramani and Thenappan PL in important roles, alongside CM Bala as a cop, Rathnakala as a black magic practitioner, and Therukoothu artists. 'Usually, films portray such artists as practitioners of the art, but I wanted to explore their versatility. That is why Myyal stars them as cops, farmers, and in other various roles.' Elumalai made his directorial debut with 2019's Aghavan, for which he also wrote the screenplay and dialogues. In contrast, Myyal is based on celebrated author and screenwriter B Jeyamohan's screenplay. 'The production house reposed faith in me to direct this story, which was pressurising, but in a good way. If it was my screenplay, I could have made changes. However, the job entrusted to me was to enhance Jeyamohan sir's script for the screen. I have done it to the best of my abilities.' Jeyamohan's literature is known for its philosophical and social layers, and Sethu says that Myyal also has these elements. 'His stories always reflect socioeconomic struggles,' the actor says. Adding on, Elumalai explains, 'These elements will be there throughout the film but in a subtle, indirect way. When the law does not work for an ordinary man, it raises questions. This is one of the biggest talking points of the film.'
Fashion Network
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Vino Supraja celebrated for sustainable fashion at British Parliament
Designer Vino Supraja was recently honoured with the Global Sustainable Fashion Trailblazer award at the House of Commons, British Parliament. The recognition marked a milestone in Supraja's journey from the small town of Vandavasi to an international platform for sustainability in fashion. "Grateful to be recognised as a Global Sustainable Fashion Trailblazer at the British Parliament," announced Supraja on Linkedin. "This award is not just a personal milestone but a testament to the power of ethical fashion and craftsmanship. Sustainability is more than a choice- it's a responsibility. This recognition fuels my commitment to creating fashion that respects people, the planet, and the artistry of our weavers. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey." Supraja hails from the small town of Vandavasi and was educated in a government school, The Hindu reported. At the British Parliament, Supraja spoke about culture and sustainable fashion to a global audience. Now based in Dubai, the 45-year-old designer entered fashion after stints in architecture, animation and media studies, eventually enrolling in a fashion school in China, according to her Linkedin page. Supraja's graduation collection won two international awards and was showcased at the 2014 Shanghai Fashion Week. The designer has subsequently showcased designs at New York and Brooklyn fashion weeks, with collections influenced by events such as the 2018 Chennai floods. Supraja's shift to sustainable fashion began in Dubai, leading to collaborations with Chennimalai weavers and participation in London Fashion Week. Drawing inspiration from Tamil folk traditions like Therukoothu, Supraja has incorporated cultural storytelling into her shows and is now exploring new uses for the Bhavani jamakkalam, aiming to revive local crafts.
