Augusto completes 43 years in Tamil stage

BY D S RAJAGOPALAN

Veteran Playwright and Director B M Purushotham popularly

known as ‘Augusto’ in the theatre circuit has immensely

contributed to the growth of Tamil amateur theatre of Chennai

for the past four decades

The pen name ‘Augusto’ was chosen by him since he was born

in August. Augusto started as a playwright with his maiden play

‘Enakkor Udal Vendum’ in 1979 but his first play for the Tamil

stage was ‘Iruttalla Nizhal’ in 1980 which was well appreciated.

He went on to write scripts for around 45 plays which were

staged over 1000 times at key cultural organizations. His plays

are known for suspense, thriller variety keeping the audience

glued to the stage from commencement of the play till the end.

The play ‘Kadaisi Nimishangal’ was the first video scope drama

and was well acclaimed. Augusto’s play ‘Vanavillin Ambu’ was

produced as a Hindi movie Bansuri: the flute’ starring Anurag

Kashyap, speaks volumes about his expertise as playwright.

Invariably, the play written by him was directed by him as well.

Augusto’s Augusto Creations has been a regular in Kartik Fine

Arts’ popular annual Kodai Nataka Vizha since 1996

His scripts and the talents as director won him Best Story writer

few times and Best Director several times in the vizha judged by

a panel of judges every time.

‘Adayalam’, Vedvilliputhur Police Station’, ‘Achu Asal’, ‘Jail

Veedu’, ‘Jaitha Kudhirai’ are few among his award-winning

plays. Augusto has also penned scripts for stalwarts like Kathadi

Ramamurthy, V.S.Raghavan and Thillai Rajan to name a few

besides around 25 AIR plays, 28 Doordarshan plays.

A few hit TV serials of Hansa vision, Vikatan Televistas, Min

Bimbangal and Nataka Mandir also were on his scripts.

In a theatrical career of over four decades

Augusto has won several awards such as Kartik Award of

Excellence from Kartik Fine Arts, Wisdom Award, and Best Story

writer, Best Director, Rajiv Gandhi Trophy from seventy year-

old Mylapore Academy known for its annual drama and TV

Serial awards among others.

On a question as to how to bring back sizable audience to Tamil

theatre given the modern-day competitions in entertainment,

Augusto says: “Hilarious plays with variety of contents other

than the oft-seen family-oriented ones, backed by excellent

performances and neat presentation will certainly attract

packed audience.”

Augusto’s stagecraft and immense contribution to Tamil stage

deserve a ‘Kalaimamani’ award from Government of Tamil

Nadu for his immense contribution to the growth of Tamil stage