Kanchipuram-based Kattaikkuttu Sangam presents its yearly Kalai Thiru Vizhaa

Experience the annual Kalai Thiru Vizhaa festival at Kattaikkuttu Sangam, bridging urban-rural divide with diverse performances.

For 33 years now, Kattaikkuttu Sangam’s expansive hall at Punjarasantankal village in Kanchipuram has been throbbing with the excitement of a thiruvizha every March. This year though, it is the winter months that ring in the yearly Kalai Thiru Vizhaa with a range of performances being staged by artistes from the Sangam as well as contemporary Tamil theatre. A piece each from the two formats is spread over 10 Saturdays till January 4, 2025.  

“This is the second year of this particular format,” says Hanne M de Bruin, the facilitator at the Sangam, who along with her husband P Rajagopal, director, playwright, and third-generation performer of the theatre form and a few other artisans, founded the not-for-profit initiative in 1990. The initiative also ran the Kattaikkuttu Gurukulam, school that taught the art form, which shut down after the pandemic.

The Thiru Vizhaa has thus far staged performances by theatre groups such as Perch and Indianostrum, renditions by TM Krishna, and M Abdul Gani and his group of Sufi singers from Nagore, apart from kattaikkuttu pieces by Rajagopal and ensemble. In the coming weeks, there is Mobile Girls Koottam by Samyukta PC and Draupadi-Duhsasana Tarkkam by three pairs of performers; Solladi Sivashakti by Theatre Nisha and Daksa Yagnam by the Sangam; Won’t You Listen to me by A Bharathi and P Sasikumar; and Shoorpanaka: A Search, by Parshathy J Nath, among others.

“The main aim of the festival is to bridge the urban-rural divide,” says Hanne, adding: “People in Chennai are unaware of koothu and that it is alive and kicking; while people in the village here have never seen contemporary Tamil theatre since it happens only in the city.” She says their audience in the village is “very ready to see what is on offer”. She says, “There are children sitting in front rows waiting to see the performances.”

Hanne says that the Thiru Vizhaa was started to provide employment to artistes during the off-season. “It also coincides with the Margazhi season, and we try and create more awareness on koothu; everyone should have access to it,” she says. The festival will culminate with the night-long performance, Mahabharatam by Kattaikkuttu Sangam on January 4, that will run from 9pm to 6am the next day. “It is a big production that brings together 40 members,” she explains.

Although the Gurukulam has been shut down, Hanne says that they are working towards safe-guarding the “transmission of knowledge of koothu”. To this effect, she has written a book Kattaikkuttu: A Rural Theatre Tradition In South India (Bloomsbury), that came out last year in the UK. She and Rajagopal are also set to present a lec-dem at The Music Academy’s Academic Sessions on December 19.

The Kalai Thiru Vizhaa is on till January 4 at Kattaikkuttu Sangam, Punjarasantankal village in Kanchipuram. Entry is free, but donations are appreciated. For details, call 9944369600, write to info@kattaikkuttu.org, visit kattaikkuttu.org.