When Lakshman Shruti brought alive an old shooting floor at LV Prasad Studios

Well, it was quite a magical night at the LV Prasad Studios, the last Saturday this month.
After the launch of the Namma Arcot Road initiative on October 2 at Hotel Green Park, which had Mrs Y.G. Parthasarathy, dean and director, PSBB Group of Schools, inuagurating and quite a few eminent citizens of Chennai in attendance, including S. Muthiah, the city chronicler, its coordinators have organised two very successful events.

The last Saturday in October saw a heritage walk at the LV Prasad Studios, with the LV Prasad Film & Television Academy director, K. Hariharan, taking visitors on a tour of the shooting floors, sets, editing rooms et al.

This time (November 27), it was musical rhapsody if you like. There was only standing space and nobody really left until the end. For it was a scintillating performance by the Lakshman Sruthi orchestra. Members of the well-known band regaled a receptive audience with a medley of songs, old and new.

Youngsters, especially some of the students of the L.V. Prasad Film & TV Academy, danced to the music as catchy songs from Endhiran and other films were sung. If a recent hit number had the young freaking out, an old melody had everybody listening in rapt attention. A few from the audience also impressed at the mike, especially Aditya, a differently-able person who sang ‘O shanti shanti’ from the film Vaaranam Aayiram.

The highlight, however, was a virtuoso solo performance by drummer Surendran who had the audience seeking an encore (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=173694322658003&comments).

The stage was set up on an old shooting floor where many film scenes featuring MGR and other leading actors had been shot. Ten minutes into the show and the seats were all full; more chairs had to be brought from the Academy library. That too wasn’t enough, but there was enough standing space and those who didn’t find seats didn’t grumble. They were all just happy to be there.

On Christmas Day, Namma Arcot Road will organise a storytelling event for children titled ‘An evening with Jeeva Aunty’, at Hotel Green Park. For more details, log on to nammaarcotroad.wordpress.com or follow Namma Arcot Road on Facebook.

Pictures show the Lakshman Shruti orchestra setting the tone for the evening; drummer Surendran (long locks) in his elements; a view of the shooting floor and the audience; Adithya immersed in song; and students of the LV Prasad Film & Television Academy freaking out.