Koothupattarai Muthusamy

Director and founder of Koothu – p – Pattarai, Na Muthuswamy Na Muthuswamy was an award-winning art director an >> Read More... was a renowned Theatre Artist of Tamil Folk Theatre. He was born in 1936 in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. He has described as the Master of Avant – Grade by the Newspaper, The Hindu. Muthuswamy introduced several south Indian actors in the industry like Vijay Sethupathi Vijaya Gurunatha Sethupathi was not born with silv >> Read More... , Pasupathy, Vinodhini, Vemal, Guru Somasundaram Guru Somasundaram is a growing actor in Tamil cine >> Read More... , and Vidharth. He studied Theru – K – Koothu, the traditional folk street theatre of Thamil Nadu, for eight years. It influenced him to start his theatre group. The first modern Tamil playwriter, Na Muthuswamy, was the founder and artistic director of Koothu – p – Pattarai in 1977 and gained fame after staging his first famous play, Kaalam Kaalamaga.

The show has been performed all around the country at various stages. The folk theatre, Koothu - P - Pattarai, was identified by UNESCO as one of the five Learning centers for Theatre from 2000 to 2007. He had produced more than 60 major Tamil theatre programs. Most popular among them are England (1989), Tenali Raman (1999 & 2008), Nallaval (2001), Panchali Sabatham (2004), and Six Characters in Search of an Author (2005). Muthuswamy made his debut in film in the movie Vaazhththukkal in 2008, directed by Seeman and starring Madhavan and Bhavana. Na Muthuswamy was awarded Padma Shri in 2012 and the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1999 by the government of India. He also got Tamil Nadu Government’s Award for Best Short Stories in 2005, Podhigai Award for Theatre in 2007, and most recently received Kalaignar Porkizhi Award in 2008. Na Muthuswamy took his last breath on 24 October 2018 at the age of 82 at his residence in Chinmaya Nagar, Chennai.