A magician with the pen as his wand

Pio Esteves

Ever since his childhood, Manuel Pereira from Vaddem, Vasco has had a great love for his mother-tongue, Konkani, and ever since his aunt Aurora gifted him Reginaldo Fernandes’ novel, ‘Opradhi’ he became a fan of the famed novelist of the yesteryears. In fact, he developed a liking for Konkani novels, especially those penned by Reginaldo, Bonaventure de Pietro and Jess Fernandes. He claims that till date, he has read around 50 Konkani novels and the interest to write in Konkani was stoked by this reading habit.

Pereira was a great fan of tiatrs and tiatrists, and right from the beginning he would enjoy watching tiatrs, especially in theneighbouring ward of Destero in Vasco. Along with Willy Barretto, Mario de Vasco and Jack Ferns, he was instrumental in providing stage names to some of the famed tiatrists too.

How did the stage name ‘Trio Kings’ come into existence? Pereira explains, “When Conception, Anthony and Souza Boy came to perform in Rodil’s tiatr, ‘Xembu’ at Vasco, we decided to name the group, ‘Trio Kings’ as they were quite popular during that period, and that stage name clicked.”

In 1978, Manuel Pereira penned his first tiatr, ‘Atam Konn Gorib?’ and before presenting it on stage, he roped in his brothers, sisters and some villagers. Felcy and SantanPegado were the only professionals amidst all the amateur artistes.

In 1983, Pereira penned and staged his non-stop tiatr, ‘Eksuro’ with professional artistes like Wilma de Calangute, Zeena, SantanPegado, A M Pacheco and others. Professionals like Jacinto Vaz, Tony Sax, Prince Jacob, Felcy, Jr Nelson, Querobine and comedian Dominic have also acted in his tiatrs.    

From 1986 to 1988, this tiatrist penned and staged 25 shows of each of his tiatrs – ‘Duddu’, ‘Fuddar’ and ‘Asro’ – in villages across Goa. For the tiatr, ‘Asro’ he had a professional cast comprising Crista, Felcy, Jessie, Peter Gomes, Mario de Vasco, comedienne Joana (whom he went on to marry)and others. 

In 1988, due to financial constraints, he stopped penning and staging tiatrs. In 1990, this prolific tiatr writer married comedienne Joana and from 1992, chose to be a ghostwriter.

Besides penning fine tiatr scripts, Pereira also had an inborn talent for composing songs, especially political ones. He says that most of the popular political songs rendered by Trio Kings were his compositions. “In one of Anthony San’s tiatrs, a political song rendered by comedian Dominic became an instant hit,” he reveals.

Pereira claims that he has assisted several noted directors by providing tiatr scripts and serving as a ghostwriter. He also confesses that some directors, who took all the credit after their tiatrs were declared hits, failed to give him his due recognition. “At that juncture, I did not expect big monetary gains, but at least my efforts should have been recognized,” he humbly says.

“Though some of the directors have failed to reward me for my efforts and talent, I am happy that several of my tiatrs have become an instant hit and that is my greatest satisfaction,” informs this ghostwriter. He also mentions that when three of his compositions became quite popular in a noted director’s tiatr, that director was kind enough to acknowledge and reward him financially.

After 26 long years, Pereira decided to pen tiatr scripts and release them with the assistance of his wife. In 2014, he penned the tiatr ‘Novo Dis Udetana’ and it was appreciated by the audience with 17 performances, followed by ‘Sonsta Taka Dev Posta’ during the Lent season in 2015.  

Pereira admits that when he has staged his own tiatrs, they have failed to gain popularity, unlike other directors who have produced his scripts and shot to fame instantly. “I believe it is sheer luck,” he states. But as he has the capacity to pen more tiatrs, he is not hesitant to give them to anyone who wishes to present them on stage. 

The lyrics of all the songs rendered by comedienne Joana are penned by Pereira and he has also contributed around 7 songs to two audio CDs and scripted five comedy films. Concerning the art of penning songs on varied themes, he reveals “Composition of a song begins in the mind first and once it is complete with three stanzas and chorus, I sit to script it.”

Today, after retirement Pereira has started watching the latest tiatrs on stage and the interest of scripting tiatrs has re-developed in him. Earlier, although he used to pen and release all his tiatrs under EMPEE Presentation, Vasco, he intends to release all his future tiatrs with the assistance of his supportive wife Joana. 

‘Today’s tiatrs have become too commercial. There is a development of  Konkani and its focus is only through tiatrs,” informs Pereira. “According to me, the earlier audience wanted mere entertainment. Today, the tiatr story is not of much interest, but secondary. Spectators want comedy, songs and good singers,” he adds.