A performance poetry act carries forward legacy of Kerala’s great satire poets

MR Vishnu Prasad contemporarises the genre by using interdisciplinary tools like objects, mixed media and body movement 

“What is poetry?” This is ostensibly at the core of Chodyanthinte Utharavadi, an act of Performance Poetry that is part of the ongoing 50th State Exhibition of Art at Durbar Hall. But MR Vishnu Prasad’s multidisciplinary performance questions much more than the obvious.

It uses the investigative format and media reportage - a videographer and a sound recordist - to gather people’s ideas of what poetry means to them. The data is screened and, in a twist, the audience too are questioned. Vishnu uses sound and word play to create atmospherics to convey the limits of language. Finally the body takes over to express. The artist reads poems in which each verse is an intense look at contemporary issues. With every recitation, a page is torn and the book finally disappears.

 “Audiences new to this genre need only to look back at Kerala’s rich legacy of tribal culture, songs, the Thullal movement and body traditions of various folk and ritual performances to understand the role of a poetry performance,” says Vishnu Prasad whose works offer contemporary context to an age-old method of expression. His inspirations are the late and legendary poets of this genre — Kadammannitta Ramakarishnan who held 1000s of public recitals across Kerala and D Vinaychandran who introduced prose into Malayalam poetry.

A poet, environmentalist and a research scholar working in Theatre and Movement, Vishnu has been writing poetry for two decades. He has two anthologies — Rithukkalum SreeBudhanum (2008) and Aanirachi(2013) — to his credit and the renowned poet K. Satchidanandan has translated some of his works. Vishnu has performed poetry at leading art galleries in India and curated the poetry performance at ITFoK, 2020 in Thrissur. He used a mizhavu artist for the first time in a performance, paying tribute to the early poet and satirist, Kunjan Nambiar, the father of Ottanthullal ,Malayalam performance poetry. 

“Though Kerala had a strong tradition of performance poetry, it has waned. Slam poetry and Spoken word acts have gained popularity as alternative expression. As there is fear of criticism, people are afraid of this form,” says Vishnu who hails from Chengannur in Alappuzha District.

The 40-minute performance will be repeated on May 6 at 5.00 pm in Durbar Hall.