Back in 1968, film-maker P. Padmarajan was working as a programme announcer at the All India Radio in Thrissur.
Radio plays were all the rage during those pre-television days and the All India Radio’s annual Radio play festival had thousands of listeners glued into their transistors.
That year, Padmarajan himself penned one of the plays for the festival. Titled ‘Akale Akale Ashwaasam’, it also had him lending his voice to the protagonist Ravi. Veteran radio drama artistes including T.N. Gopinathan Nair, K.G. Devaki Amma , T.P. Radhamoni, C.S. Radhadevi and Madavoor Bhasi played some of the key roles. It turned out to be a big hit with the listeners.
Now, four decades later, fartistes who worked with Padmarajan at various points in his career are coming together to recreate that magic. ‘Akale Akale Ashwaasam’ will be the opening play for this year’s Radio Play festival and will be broadcast on August 2 at 9.30 p.m.
Lending their voices to the play will be actors Nedumudi Venu, Jayaram and Suresh Gopi, who all played major roles in Padmarajan’s film. G.R. Nandakumar who was the voice of the ‘gandharvan’ in Padmarajan’s last film ‘Njan Gandharvan’ is also part of the play. Others include C.R. Anandavally, Bhagyalakshmi and Ambili, who have all dubbed for the female leads in his films. Music Director Perumbavoor G. Ravindranath who debuted with some magical tunes in ‘Thoovanathumbikal’ and went on to score again for Padmarajan in ‘Innale’, will score the music for the play.
“It was an article written by his son Ananthapadmanabhan earlier this year, expressing his wish to once more hear ‘Akale Akale Ashwaasam’ on radio, that led us to take up this project. No changes have been made to the script,” says N. Vasudev, director of the play. The repeat broadcast is on August 3 at 11 a.m. The broadcast is relayed by all stations in Kerala of AIR. The drama broadcast is also available on the internet www.allindiaradio.gov.in.
