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I want to break my own record- says Esakiyarajan

From being a production boy to a Guinness record holder, his life equals a roller coaster. Meet Esakiyarajan, who created the play named “Kaalakkooru”. The play was for 28hours 34 minutes and 43seconds. The event happened on March 8th and 9th of this year in Ethiraj College. He is also the founder of BioScoops.

Tell us about you.

I did my Visual Communication in Patrician Arts and Science college, Adyar. I joined in 2009 and simultaneously joined as an assistant to a production manager named Ramesh Babu. In November 2009, an event was conducted for Kalaignar Karunanidhi and that was the first project I did. Then I worked as a production boy in”Chellame” serial. I did a documentary on M.R.Radha in my college and released in Film Chamber on September 17th of 2011. From that event, Radha Ravi gave a chance to direct a movie “Thittam” in Malaysia on 2012. After that, I worked as promo editor in News 7.

What is “Bioscoops” about ?

We opened this company to sell movie tickets and event tickets. But it didn’t work as we planned. So we did post production and dubbing work. We have also done lyrical videos for movies.

How did you plan for this stage play?

In 2013, we had the plans of executing the play in our own college. But, we didn’t get the required support from the college management.

In 2018, my friend Durga asked me to approach Ethiraj college. I made a proposal and submitted a plan. This entire idea was a trial and error.
We didn’t even conduct any auditions. We just picked a random department but gave intense practice to 25 students.
The previous record of longest stage play was 24 hours, 20 mins 2 sec. So we planned to do it for 48 hours. We trained the students for 6 months and this finally happened.

His team

Tell us about the theme of your play.

“Human rights” was the theme and we chose to break it into 16 episodes . But we did only 11 episodes. All the students are amateurs. Experts and extreme practice resulted in receiving the record

How was the feel when you received the guinness record?

On September 20, we got the mail from Guiness that we are the current record holders. The team and the college was happy and thrilled. But, I just felt contented because the work we took got a recognition. Of course, we couldn’t achieve what we planned for but the mail just made me smile. I had the satisfaction that I took a work and completed it.

His parents getting the award.

Why you wanted to apply for Guinness?

I am quite knowledgeable in many fields regarding media. I have been rejected many times for being overqualified. So, I got this thought of doing a stage play while rethinking about my documentary on M.R.Radha. I wanted to dedicate a tribute to drama artists and that’s the reason.

How did you apply?

There are many fake agencies. We applied directly in Guiness World Book of Records website by creating a profile.

We chose the priority quota by paying $1000. The organization will appoint a manager to communicate with us. We submitted our script in english and uploaded a 2 minute video of every hour and we took the tickets for the review.

Tell us about the hurdles you faced

Financially we struggled a lot to achieve this. We couldn’t make it in the budget we planned for. At one point, everyone around asked me to drop this project. I didn’t want to disappoint those 25 girls by telling about this constraint. So, I planned to borrow money to make this happen. Of course, this record is only for recognition. Against all the odds I faced, I made this possible by not listening to people who demotivated me. Even while we were performing, many plugged out the audio wires but we were firm in our decisions and tried to sort out all the problems . At last we performed for 28hr 34mins 43secs. Even in cinema and in dramas, producers go through a lot. As a producer, I didn’t want to disappoint anyone and wanted everyone to get the recognition they worked for. But no one considered me after the event.
Those 25girls who have that record have proven what they are capable of. Here on, they hold their fate and hope they dont forget how they started. I am happy that I am the reason for the first step of their success. Though this is the last project of bioscoops, the money I got from others have to be settled only by me and I am working towards it.
Both mental and the physical pressure I handled built me into a strong person and I am planning to collaborate with better projects in the future.

How important is stage play?

Drama is the basis of all.
Even actors are giving required importance to drama artists. if drama didn’t happen, we couldnt have enjoyed Nasser, Pasupathi and many more.

What’s next?

This would be the last project from Bioscoops. We are developing scripts for our next projects
I am in different plans right now. It would be either a stage play or a marathon. I want to break my own record.

Tell us about the people who stood by you.

In this whole process, my parents, Durga Harilal, Jaishnaa kalatharan were my entire support system.

Few motivational words from you

Whatever we plan for, we need not over think about the results. Instead, we must try to execute it. If we fail, we will gain experience to make it right next time. Even if someone wants to break my record, I am happy to help them achieve it.

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