Aiyaiyo! It’s a landmark show!

Aspiring artistes who want to take up theatre as a career can look to Chennai-based arts organization Evam as an inspiration. The group that performs regularly in Bangalore was formed 11 years ago and is bringing their 700th show to the city.
The landmark project is a stand-up comedy titled Aiyaiyo. Speaking about their “special show”, Karthik Kumar, who co-founded the group with Sunil Vishnu K, says, “It has a big south Indian flavour.There are characters from all the four states of the region. All the gags revolve around the way Indians look at the world. In fact, we are taking this show to the US from October 15 onwards. We will present it in 17 cities in the country.”
Recalling their initial journey, Karthik, who is also an actor and a director, says, “Back then, when we started our group, an arts organization was not seen as a profitable venture. We proved that theatre can be a successful enterprise and make money too. Our 700th show is a testimony to our successful journey. Today, we not only perform in cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, but we have gone global and had our shows in various parts of the US and the UK,” he adds.
Ask the actor-director why they have decided to stage the show in Bangalore, he says, “Bangalore is a special city for us. Audiences here are very receptive. They have immense love and respect for theatre. Be it hard-core social saga or a comic sketch, Bangaloreans always appreciate good work.”