Na Muthuswamy

Na Muthuswamy was an award-winning art director and a playwright. Na Muthuswamy, also called Padma Shri Na Muthuswamy or the master of the avant-garde, was born in 1936 in Thanjavur, India. Na Muthuswamy was creative and passionate about the movie industry. He studied Theru-K-Koothu for eight years, and fueled by his passion for the revival of Tamil movies, he founded Koothu-P-Pattarai in Chennai, South India. His theatre group was a creative blend of rural and urban lifestyles and was one of the five identified theatre groups as learning centers for theatre by UNESCO in 2000 - 2007.

Apart from being a playwright and art director, he wrote short stories. His creative blend echoes in his books. Some of his books, such as Neermai, were translated into English by Lakshmi Holmstrom. His book titled Bullocks of the West contains five short stories; it was translated from the Tamil language to English by David Shulman and S Ramakrishnan.

Na Muthuswamy's career as an art director hit success in 1969 through his first modern play in Tamil titled 'Kalam Kalamaga,' some other movies attributed to him and the Koothu-P-Pattarai theatre group are England - 1989, Tenali Raman - 1999 & 2008, and Six Characters in Search of an Author - 2005 among others. Another remarkable attribution to his name was in the 2008 production of 'Vaazhthugal' where he made his first appearance.

Na Muthuswamy was indeed a master because - he trained many art directors in Tamil theatre, such as - Vijay Sethupathi Vijaya Gurunatha Sethupathi was not born with silv >> Read More... , Vemal, and Pasupathy, among others. He also featured many youngsters in his movies. Na Muthuswamy received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1999 and the Padma Shri Award in 2012. Vision, creativity, and focus are words to describe the master of avant-garde because, despite the many hurdles in his way, he achieved all he desired and aimed at during his lifetime. He grew old, took ill due to age-related sickness, and died on 24 October 2018.