All the action in Karpanai Kuthirai’s Chikku Bukku Kalyanam (written and directed by Vedarun Rajkumar) takes place on a train. The play was staged as part of Krishna Gana Sabha’s summer drama festival. The story revolves around a hopelessly romantic girl — Ananya (portrayed by Subhiksha Sridharan) — who wants an unusual wedding venue and is travelling to marry her boyfriend in a railway station. She is also happy about her father’s opposition to her choice as she believes — what is a romance without parental disapproval? Ananya’s father engages Mathew to spy on his daughter. Mathew, who is busy, asks his friend Balaji, a  reformed pick-pocketer, to take his place on the train.

Two siblings — Kuntalakesi (Preeti Krishnan) and Manimekalai (Rini Chitra Kannan) — are also travelling in the same compartment as Ananya, albeit without tickets. Kuntalakesi is averse to what she sees as the superficial romance of the modern world. Balaji, impersonating Mathew, is smitten by Manimekalai’s charms. A comedy of errors unfolds inside the compartment. The journey is a riot of mistaken identities.

The ticket inspector, Valayapathi, is not only dim-witted, but does not realise he is. The sisters outwit him with their rapid, non-stop chatter. Raghavan was outstanding as Valayapathi and one couldn’t help chuckling at his exaggerated self-confidence. Mathew/Balaji pretends to throw-up or wears a pair of shades to disguise himself, whenever he is on the verge of being exposed.

Paramesh’s acting as Mathew/Balaji was the comedic tour-de-force of the play. Chikku Bukku Kalyanam was a journey which unleashed some delightful madness on stage. There was such a labyrinth of crossed wires in the play, that it could easily have left the audience confused. But Vedarun Rajkumar navigated the tricky situations with ease, skilfully weaving the tangled web he had created, without never once losing his humorous touch.