October 25, 2010
Greetings from Bahrain !
I am so excited to hear my voice on-air during one of these coming days!! Thanks to my friends, Mr. Peethambaran and Mr. Rajan, for gifting me an opportunity to take part in the GCC Radio Drama Competition (Malayalam), conducted by School of Drama (Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam) in collaboration with Radio Voice (FM 104.2, Bahrain).
The 30-minute radio drama, "Jyothirgamaya" is written & directed by Peethambaran Neeleswaram. Peethambaran who is currently based out of Bahrain is a true artist, a sculptor and a story teller - all in one. Many of his short stories were published in many Malayalam periodicals and dailies.
Jyothirgamaya is one among the 13 entries partaking in the GCC Drama competition.
'Jyothirgamaya' - the team
Out of the four characters in the drama, the two female characters - that of a mother and a daughter ('audio-acted' by Mrs. Indu Pavithran and Kum. Aswathy Chandran) lead the listeners to the story, from start to the end. The characters dubbed by Mr. Rajan & myself come during the course of the play. Mr. Rajan VRT, a talented actor who is known to the Malayali community in Bahrain is also the producer of Jyothirgamaya.
(Rajan, Aswathy, Renjith, Peethambaran & Indu Pavithran - at the Recording Theatre)
My experience in dubbing / voice over
Honestly, it was a terrific experience to do a voice over, though I had written, acted and directed many short skits and short plays before - all on stage. The challenge of doing a voice over is always the reality, that you need to narrate the story and convey the emotions to the listeners based solely on the voice and its modulations, while the body gestures complement an actor favorably while doing a play on stage.
Moreover, the tension and stress levels were at an all-time high, because I was always haunted by the fact that my voice would be listened by thousands on-air and be judged by experts and listeners, being a Competition. Peethambaranji and Rajanji persuaded me to do this though I was quite sceptical and nervous at the beginning.
(Quite relieved, after the recording - with my son, Govind at the Recording Studio)
Naming of a Production Banner - a coincidence
When Peethambaran ji, Rajan ji & myself went to submit the final version of the drama at Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam office last month, we were asked to fill in a mandatory column in the Application Form, viz Name of the Drama Company/Theatre/Production Banner.
Since we are all amateurs and drama is just a passion (and not a profession) for us, naming our 'theatre' at such a short notice was a Herculean task. To our surprise, the quick-wit Rajan ji came up with a name "Pooradom Creations" from nowhere! It was sheer coincidence to realise that the trio, Peethambaran ji, Rajan ji & myself belong to the same Malayalam birth star - Pooradom!
Broadcast
The broadcast of the drama submissions would commence on 27th October, 2010. But, the broadcast date of Jyothirgamaya is yet to be announced by the organisers. May I humbly request the Malayali community residing in Bahrain to please tune in to Radio Voice FM 104.2 from 27/10/2010 during 8 PM to 9 PM. There could also be chances for SMS voting and I truly hope that you would do the 'needful'.
I request my readers (not based out of Bahrain and/or who does not understand Malayalam), to please standby for further updates on the subject.
Keeping our fingers crossed, we are looking forward to the success of our endeavour, perhaps a small step to a giant leap!
Kindly wish us good luck!
Thank You,
Renjith
(C) 2010. Renjith P Sarada. All Rights Reserved
