Indira Parthasarathy turns 96, wishes to complete Macbeth in Tamil

Indira Parthasarathy, one of the towering figures of modern Tamil literature and drama, turned 96 on Sunday and revealed his keen interest in completing the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in Tamil.

His eyes lit up as he spoke about the project with childlike enthusiasm.

 “I have completed 50 per cent of the work. It’s not a translation, but an adaptation,” he said. It was during this process that his calcium levels dropped, requiring hospitalisation.

“I stopped at the scene where Macbeth kills Duncan in his sleep. He says, ‘Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more.’ I also lost sleep from that day,” quipped Mr Parthasarathy with a smile, drawing an uncanny parallel between his own experience and Shakespeare’s tormented protagonist.

He has engaged with the adaptation of King Lear as Iruthi Aattam and The Tempest as Sooravali. Iruthi Aattam, he noted, takes its title from Samuel Beckett’s play Endgame.

Asked if he would finish the current work, Mr Parthasarathy said he needed to be in the right mood. “When I meet friends and others, I get the enthusiasm to complete it,” he said. His birthday celebration brought together family members, as well as many friends, students, publishers, and admirers.

Among them were Velu Saravanan, the well-known theatre personality, and Ilango Kumaravel — who adapted Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan for the stage and later collaborated with director Mani Ratnam on the film adaptation. Both were among Mr Parthasarathy’s first students at Pondicherry University.

“I was a physics student and had little idea about any subject, let alone theatre. He shaped me. He once came to the university on a Sunday to appreciate my play,” recalled Saravanan.

Parthasarathy is, in a way, Kesavan — the protagonist of his novel Verpattru. “My father was a Sanskrit scholar, and we lived in a house opposite that of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan in Kumbakonam. Parents on Sarangapani Street aspired to have children who excelled in mathematics. I pursued an M.A. in Tamil just to express my protest,” he said.