The Meaning of Malar

This was my review reminiscence of the play 'The Meaning of Malar' that I felt compelled to write past the midnight after watching it, only after which I could sleep.

It's coming back soon – on 31-May & 01-Jun and if you miss it, it's on you and you alone, so don't!

The Meaning of Malar

We're introduced to the cast & crew right at the start, which was instantly unusual, but surely, it was worth it, for we realised it much later.

The play opens up with Malar (Sneha), a stand-up comic mocking the societal pressures on a flower to simply bloom, attract bees, pollinate, and ultimately wither. Lines from Ilaiyaraaja's 'thendral vandhu theendumbodhu' were aptly used for support, with Malar rephrasing it only to curtly tell us all to close our ears if we were to feel any discomfort. The play goes on to speak quite a few such uncomfortable truths from various stages of her life, though not uncomfortable enough for us, for they were dealt with much nuance rather than vilifying or glorying anything or anyone outright – there's enough for the audience to digest, disagree with or even debate, without a sense for disdain or disharmony.

We see two smart men discussing bottle paintings and art, in general, with the artist Kumar, (Sadashivam) advocating for messiness in life, quite the turn from his earlier self, as we see later – he even sits down to resume work, in stress, on an existing piece of perfectly good sketch, only to make a few random brushstrokes over it. His conversation with Benjamin (Rajbharath) eventually leads to Benjamin enquiring if Malar lives with Kumar, thus setting the stage for their respective stories to unravel.

Kumar describes Malar of wanting not just freedom, but an unbridled one at that – with basal urges, accusing her of wanting to sleep around, even repeating the exact statement he had once made to her in retort. We are thus taken though the wonderful journey of their respective episodes, with their perspectives beautifully blurring at every segue, swaying & meandering throughout, all without a single instance of the stage lights going off.

We learn of Kumar's missing his long-lost love, orthodox upbringing, innocent boyhood (special mention on the wonderful portrayal), conservative values, and the general sense of order (thus making his eventual embrace of messiness even more pronounced); Benjamin's liberal worldview, relationship with his displeased father, his mountain calling, his potential lines thrown to one Rekha (huh!), and above all, his absolutely fierce masculine defence of the walls he put around himself (special mention again on this – it was such a treat to watch this unfold!) with his screams and hollers quite unnerving; Malar's childhood struggles, abandonment fears, teenage urges, jealousy, ambition, tenacity, vulnerabilties, cravings for acceptance, guilt, instant regrets, and above all, her love, love & love, though in forms seemingly indigestible, being the flower at every stage - approached, smelled, desired, adorned, loved, and even stomped on, but never truly accepted as it was, until it was lost & unattainable.

The three actors were fully in their elements and held us in their captive gazes for an hour and a half, bringing alive the brilliant writing that flowed seamlessly, portraying excellently the intangible & often inexplicable push-and-pull in relationships! The writer & director Vedarun known to us for his humour & wordplays made sure not to remind us of either, showing his finesse & deeper prowess throughout the entire play, by masterfully showing and never telling – something that much of the Chennai theatre scene would be wise to learn from.

By the way, as an aside – just at the depiction of the Swargarohini peak, we could hear a dog howling outside, which I thought was an audio played to remind us of the dog from the Swargaarohana parva, but it was soon apparent that it clearly wasn't :)

Well, nothing moves one like good art does, and this one shakes us all. What a fantastic play!

The meaning of Malar is riddled with its beautiful thorns and crevices, its enticing and yet occasionally pungent fragrance, and its vivid though gaudy colours, nonetheless striking at every stage, right from budding to blooming in all its glory! 🫡

May such Malars and their meanings never wither!