Kanal Samksarika Vedi’s play Soviet Station Kadavu, said to be the first ‘time travel play’ in Malayalam is a brilliant take on power, and how its misuse damages democracy
Kanal Samksarika Vedi’s play Soviet Station Kadavu, said to be the first ‘time travel play’ in Malayalam is a brilliant take on power, and how its misuse damages democracy
Spectators of a Malayalam play, Soviet Station Kadavu, were transported from a suburb on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram to the Kremlin and Nazi Germany, on the wings of imagination. Billed as the first ‘time travel’ play in Malayalam, it is a superb example of how a well-crafted, creative play can overcome barriers of language, time and budget to capture the audience’s attention.
Hazim Amaravila
| Photo Credit: Ashik Babu
Staged by Kanal Samksarika Vedi and directed by Hazim Amaravila, the play is an adaptation of Murali Krishnan’s eponymous short story. During a previous interview, the director explained that the premise of the play is that the former USSR suffered a blow because of the Second World War. To prevent that, an assassin from 2022 — a youngster from Station Kadavu near Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram — goes back in time to assassinate Hitler.
Kannan Nayar in a scene from Malayalam drama Soviet Station Kadavu
| Photo Credit: Bivin Lal
Soviet Station Kadavu tackles the dangers of power and how absolute power corrupts absolutely. The play touches upon the post-truth era and profusion of fake news masquerading as facts. With subtle humour and nuanced lines, Soviet Station Kadavu points out how democratic norms can be overthrown by leaders pursuing their deranged visions in the name of race, religion or ideology by playing upon the insecurities of the majority.
With minimal props, Hazim’s brilliant direction helps the actors ace the play. The transition from one time zone to another and introduction of characters like Leonoid Brezchnev, Hitler, Eva Braun, Tesla and Joseph Goebbels do not look out of place.
The play kept the audience in splits even while dealing with contemporary political issues of demagoguery, fascism and totalitarianism.
Naveena VM and Amal Krishna in a scene from Soviet Station Kadavu
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Playing to a full house for three evenings at Ganesham in Thiruvananthapuram, the cast of Soviet Station Kadvau must be complimented for carrying forward a narrative that pulls no punches when it comes to ridiculing the demagogues and propagators of fake news.
Amal Krishna as Cheerani Ravi and Kannan Nayar as Hitler are outstanding. Reju Koliyakkode as the young Hitler and Santhosh Venjaramood as Breshnev have also done a good job. Sujathan is the man behind the minimal, fluid sets while technical support is provided by electrical engineer Sujith Rajan.
Scene from Malayalam drama Soviet Station Kadavu
| Photo Credit: Bivin Lal
Although the pandemic had brought the curtain down on live theatre, the response to the play shows that theatre has regained its pride of place on the stage. In fact, this was one of the first plays to be staged live (after the lockdowns) at Neeravil Prakash Kala Kendram, Kollam. Soviet Station Kadavu is Hazim’s fourth large production. His earlier works include Veendum Bhagavante Maranam, Chimera and Swarnnasimhasanam.
Soviet Station Kadavu was staged with the help of a grant from Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi.
