Chennai professor takes to village streets

[1]

This professor is on the streets now. Forty-eight-year engineering graduate R.Kaleeshwaran, a former professor in theatre work at the prestigious Loyola College here, is now busy training 35 folk theatre groups across Tamil Nadu to use street plays to educate people about important issues, such as HIV-AIDS, child marriage and girls’ education.

“Folk art is the right tool to improve public awareness, even in urban areas. On the first day, we hold interactive sessions with the audience on various subjects like child marriage, HIV and use of condoms.

These will be explained through street plays the next day at the same place, so that people understand them well”, says Kaleeshwaran, who runs ‘Alternative Media Centre’ in Chennai, where performers are trained to use dance and simple prose and poetry to take critical issues to the masses.

“These lively street plays with social messages are a welcome change from the long and laborious lectures by experts”, says upcoming film director Raju Murugan. “I may even pick a few of these performers for my movies”.

Prof Kaleeshwaran gained his theatre experience during his stint as a folk media consultant for the National AIDS Control Society (NACO) for 10 years and as an ‘on-ground communicator’ with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for seven years.

During the early 1990s, he used to screen films in villages to urge the parents to send their girls to schools.

“I had screened about 100 top-rated films, documentaries and short films related to child health and education.

Movies like Pather Panchali and Red Baloon encouraged the villagers to enroll their daughters in school”, said Kaleeshwaran, who had also made a film Konji Pesalam on Kandadevi temple in Sivaganga district, where dalits were not allowed to take part in the car festival.

Well-wishers can get in touch with Prof R. Kaleeshwaran on 9094799688.