The Play “Tik Tik Tik” Thrills at Udavam Karangal Fundraiser

By Jawahar Malhotra

PEARLAND: As with the play performed last year, this year’s production also immediately caught the eye with the sets on stage. Except, there were none, just a series of cleverly taken images of different locales, digitally reproduced and projected on a huge scale to give the impression of depth and immersion for the actors. To this, a time clock and locale name were superimposed, blurring the gap between a stage production and a movie screen.

Into this high-tech setting came and went the nine characters of the play “Tik, Tik, Tik” produced and directed by Houston’s own imaginatively creative mind with a flair for theatrics, Rajan Radhakrishnan. Never mind that his day-job is to make people and events happy at Indian Summer restaurant and Dawat Catering, Rajan, as he is universally known, is truly a performer at heart. The English-language play was which was staged at the Meenakshi Temple Society on Sunday, December 8 was in support of the Indian charity Udavum Karangal.

In this storyline, integrally woven by Houston’s Chandarmouli, you are drawn into the web of deceit and ambition. An internationally popular musician (Salil Badekar) is targeted by an international terrorist organization because of his remarks about religious faith. He travels to Bombay and finds a blind woman (Alpa Shah) who is a gifted singer, for his world tour. The musician chooses the blind woman as the disciple for his guru’s son (Vishy Raman), who is jealous that his late father promoted the musician to become a famous singer, ignoring his own son’s ambitions.

Meanwhile, a plot is hatched by zealots (Govindan Somaskandan  as the head and Shivi Pawa as the accomplice) to plant a bomb in the piano the musician will be using at his concert in a venue whose owner (Mahesh Shah) is concerned about. By chance, the blind woman has overheard the plan and tries to alert law enforcement officers (Sundy Srinivasan and Gayatri Rao) of the sinister plot as they use ethe voice of a video influencer (Lakshminarayan Subramanian) to confuse the lead terrorist.

How the blind woman changes the diabolical mind of a terrorist and convinces him to adopt a normal life as a human being is the central theme on which the play “Tik, Tik, Tik” was created. Alpa Shah, who was also the Co-Director, steals the show with her passionate appeal to reconsider and shows her versatility s an actress.

Dr Padmini Ranganathan, the President of the Houston chapter of the Udavam Karangal (Helping Hands) explained how the organization has been serving the underprivileged for 40 years in Chennai, India with the help of the Houston community. “We have hosted annual events for over two decades to support several projects in education, healthcare and women’s empowerment”, she explained to the full auditorium. “The Jeevan Community College and Million Midday Meal program are among the projects which have benefited from contributions from the Houston community.”

Ranganathan also told the audience that, on December 5, the Government of Tamil Nadu had awarded S. Vidyakar, who founded Udavam Karangal in 1983, the Best Social Worker award towards the service of the differentially abled children and the destitute mentally ill patients. In 41 years he has helped 5600 patients through the Jeevan School for Special Children and activity room at Thiruverkadu. Projects sponsored by the Houston Chapter include college education for children of daily wage workers and needy items for handicapped called Project Paraspara.

The actors in the play are well-known locals who have busy personal and professional lives but are thespians with a love to perform: Govindan Somaskanthan ; Sunderama  “Sundy” Srinivasam; Mahesh Shah; Lakshminarayan Subramanian; Salil Bhadekar; Gayathri Rao; Vishy Raman; Shivi Pawa and Alpa Shah.

To that, add the talents of Padmini Ranganathan as the Creative Head, Story: Chandramouli; Director: Rajan Radhakrishnan; Co-Director:  Alpa Shah; Producer: Padmini Ranganathan; Music:  Balaji Varadharajan; Video Jack:  Ram Mahadevan; Lighting:  Partha Krishnaswamy; Visual effects & Production design:  Vishy Raman; Sets and Properties:  Nalini Kannan.

This show marks the 22nd year that Indian Summer (previously Madras Pavilion) and specifically Rajan had produced a show in support of the Udavum Karangal of USA, which in turn sends the proceeds to the Udavum Karanga  in Chennai, India. This year’s show was able to collect over $100,000 for the charity.