THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 24 February 2007 — From a scientist to a connoisseur of art, he’s come a long way. Working under A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 30 years ago at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), nobody ever thought the young engineer Nataraja Krishnamoorthy would place creative arts on a new pedestal. A theater artist, an ace organizer and a creative person all rolled into one, Soorya Krishnamoorthy, as he’s better known, has carved out a niche for himself in the world of art.
Founder of the biggest cultural society in Asia, Soorya Stage and Film Society, which has 30,000 members across the globe, he was Limca Book of World Records Man of the Year 2003. “I was quite active in cultural fields while working with ISRO. Kalam was a great inspiration and he used to attend our music concerts regularly. He plays veena very well,” Krishnamoorthy said.
He took a deep plunge after taking the reins of Chitralekha, the state’s premier film society, from Adoor Gopalakrishnan three decades ago. The Federation of Film Societies of India later endowed him with the title of Veteran of Film Society Movement. Interestingly, much of his creative works surfaced after he took voluntary retirement from ISRO ten years ago.
Besides stage programs in Gulf countries at regular intervals, Soorya also conducts a 75-day festival every year in the state capital, the largest and longest cultural festival of Asia as listed by the Limca Book of World Records.
Krishnamoorthy is proud that almost every name that matters in Indian art has performed on the Soorya’s stage. “Our motto is to disseminate the rich Indian culture that helps achieve integration through culture and we have entered the 30th year,” he said. Krishnamoorthy is the pioneer of the light and shade show in Malayalam. He also ventured into the first ever mobile light and sound show and new theatrical art form, “Theater of Freedom.”
He was in Jeddah early this month at the launch of the Soorya chapter. Some 2,000 culture enthusiasts have already enrolled with the Soorya chapter in Dammam and Jeddah. “In Jeddah, some 1,200 people assembled in the open-air auditorium at the inaugural function. That kind of a response was amazing.” The response has encouraged him to open more chapters in the Kingdom and the third chapter will be opened soon in Riyadh.
Soorya is planning some all-male programs for the Saudi chapters. The one that is in the pipeline is a combination of fusion music and male dance. He is also enthusiastic about the prospects of blending traditional Arab music and dance with the Indian classical.
“We conduct two or three programs a year in the Gulf. We go as a group and present programs in the cities where a Soorya chapter is active. We stage only Indian art forms,” he said. According to him, Soorya’s presence in the Gulf has helped the state to promote its rich tradition of arts and culture.
“Leading personalities such as Abdullah Al-Saihati visited the state recently. They are all praise for the state and its people. It was from their encouragement that we decided to open more and more chapters in the Gulf.” Currently, Soorya is staging his new play Melvilasam (The Address), which is based on discrimination against the Dalits throughout the state. It will go to the Gulf next month and Europe in April. “This will be the first amateur drama to complete 100 shows in Malayalam. It’s quite a feat. Amateur drama has no history of performing ten times in a row,” he said in an interview with Arab News.
Melvilasam will be staged in Saudi Arabia shortly. According to Soorya Sargam, the play will be staged in Jeddah on May 16, Riyadh on May 17, and Dammam on May 18.
Another troupe of 15 actors and five Odyssey dancers from Bubhaneshwar will be performing in the Gulf soon. Krishnamoorthy has an excellent knack for handling hundreds of artists on stage at a time. He made a record of sorts when he directed 7,000 dancers performing together at the inaugural function of the National Games held here. He also won the President of India’s National Award for Stage Craft and Direction in 1996. He was the youngest recipient of the Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Academy Fellowship, its highest honor, in 1994 and he went on to receive 49 awards and recognitions instituted by the governments and organizations in India and abroad. He has been a member of the national and state film awards jury many times besides being chairman of Asianet Film Awards.
His prominent works include Neelavelicham, based on the story by the legendary writer Vaikkam Mohammed Basheer, Murivukal, in which his characters come face to face with those of Basheer, Pranamam, a tribute to singer Mohammed Rafi, Streeparvam (on the atrocities against women), Deepashikha (on the plight of genuine artists) Suryakanthi (on flowers of Kerala), Thudakkam and Thudarcha (on the works of M.T. Vasudevan Nair), Avatharam (on the absurdity of politics), Footprints in My Motherland (on Kerala’s history), and Samavakyam (on communal harmony).
He has also scripted and staged shows including a specially choreographed cultural program in connection with South African National Day and birthday celebrations for Nelson Mandela by invitation from the African National Congress in July, 2001, in which he combined whites, blacks, colored and Indians. “Mandela was there to see the show, which was the first staged by a foreign team on their national day. He was so impressed that he presented me with a gift which I keep as the biggest prize I received in my life,” Krishnamoorthy says.
He says the programs are popular with audiences wherever he goes. He was flabbergasted when he heard about nurses in Germany working overtime to meet the expenses of his programs. Soorya has a permanent troupe of folk artists called Nattarivukal with 300 members.
