Malayalam play on Lakshadweep row finds a unique stage: Clubhouse

Director of the play ‘Lakshadweepam’ Hazim Amaravila speaks of the possibilities and challenges of the platform.There is a television discussion going on, the topic is Lakshadweep. Arnesh is the host and Sumeshji, a ‘Dweep observer’, is also part of the show. As they talk, however, two strange voices somehow seep into the discussion. The connection has gone haywire and you hear these two voices of fishermen in Lakshadweep talk in misery about what’s going on in their homeland. Two worried, scared voices amid angry sea waves. When the voices are finally cut, Arnesh assures Sumeshji that there shall be no more of such voices in their show.You don’t, however, see any of these participants or fishermen, except as icons on a phone screen. They are the characters of a first-of-its-kind drama hosted on Clubhouse by Kanal Samskarika Vedi, a Kerala-based group of theatre persons. Directing the drama Lakshadeepam is Hazim Amaravila, who also played the role of a programme producer in it.“For more than a year now, we have not been able to have any theatre performances. We have also wanted to react to the Lakshadweep issue as artistes. That’s when the Clubhouse app became available on the android platform and we…
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