Kerala State School Arts Festival | Popular Kathakali themes continue to be most preferred by student performers

Irayimman Thampi’s Utharaswayamvaram gives scope for the multiple performers in the group events in the festival

Irayimman Thampi’s Utharaswayamvaram, immortalised in public memory through the popular song by Sreekumaran Thampi and V. Dakshinamoorthy over five decades ago, continues to be one of the most preferred Kathakali plays for competitors in the group Kathakali event at the Kerala State School Arts Festival. With well-known accompanying songs like Veera Virada Kumaravibho, the play built around a key event from Mahabharatha during the exile of pandavas, gives scope for the multiple performers in the group events.

Kalamandalam Krishna Prasad, who has been training Kathakali competitors at the festival for the past 38 years, says that there is no dearth of students for Kathakali.

“Every year I have 3-4 teams at the various levels. So I have to keep rushing between the teams to get them ready on time,” he says.

The conversations between Lava and Kusha asking their mother Sita for permission to play in the forests, taken from Lavanasura Vadham, is another popular one with the students.

Kalamandalam Aravind, who is training eight teams in different Kathakali categories at the festival this year, says that staging Kathakali involves higher expenses for the schools and participants.

“For each team, we need atleast 8-9 people from outside, 4 for the live orchestra on stage and others to do the makeup. The Kathakali attire also involves some expense. To compete from the sub-district to the State level, a team needs to spend about ₹1- 1.5 lakh,” he says.

Probably due to the expenses involved, there were only ten competitors each in the individual and group Kathakali events on Saturday, with four districts not having representatives.