Remembering Narendra Prasad through Rani Ammachi

Not many would know that late actor Narendra Prasad was also a playwright, and had a drama troupe ‘Natyagriham’ in the late 1980s.
Among the many plays he produced and scripted was Rani Ammachi, which was never staged during his lifetime. Recently, his friend and comrade MK Gopalakrishnan staged the play at Trivandrum, along with artistes of Natyagriham, which was revived in 2013. The one-and-a-half hour play opened to a packed audience and tells the real-life story of a woman named Sundari Chellamma, who lived in a fantasy world.
The play, says Gopalakrishnan, is a tribute to Narendra Prasad who scripted it 35 years ago. He says, “Sundari Chellamma used to live in the streets near the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the capital city. She had an infatuation for the then King of Travancore, and lived in her own world, imagining him as her man. Her passionate worship for him made her insane and that was how she ended upon on the streets of East Fort area, after losing her house and family.”
Narendra Prasad had once pointed her out to him and shared her tragic story, recalls Gopalakrishnan. “He wrote the play with her as the lead character but for some reason or the other, we were not able to give it life on the stage.”
The central character of the play is called ‘Rani Ammachi’ and was enacted by Malu S Lal, a city-based classical dancer who is also an assistant director in films. Malu tells us that she had to research a lot on the character, from costumes to mannerisms. “Though Narendra Prasad sir had described her in his script, which was published as a literary work in a magazine years ago, there was no photograph of her. Since she lived near the temple I enquired about her to people there. She was someone who was always pining for the King and imagined herself to be a royal woman till her death,” says Malu, adding that it was her first experience playing a title role in a play.
Meanwhile, the audience were enthralled on seeing the familiar Sundari Chellamma on stage. Ahamed Hussain, a retired government employee says, “While we were studying at Fort High School, we would always come across her. Applause to the actress for bringing out the expressions and mannerisms of the character with such finesse.”
Gopalakrishnan, apart from donning the director’s cap, has also acted in the play as Mathai, a fictional character. “I was given the role of Mathai by Narendra Prasad when he was alive. When we revived the theatre group, we thought of casting other actors including Aliyar for the role, but I was the one destined to play Mathai,” says Gopalakrishnan.