Shilpa Sreekumar drummed up excitement at her wedding in Guruvayur by playing the melam

The video of Shilpa performing with percussionists Ponnan’s Blue Magic, along with her husband, Devanand Chelot, and her father, Sreekumar Paliyath, went viral

Dressed in her red wedding sari and decked up in finery, Shilpa Sreekumar drummed up excitement as she entered the wedding venue in the company of percussion team Ponnan’s Blue Magic.

Keeping time with the 26 percussionists confidently, Shilpa played the chenda to give her bridegroom Devanand Chelot, a surprise.

As the melam got into their rhythm, the groom joined in, playing the cymbals with them and, soon, the father of the bride, Sreekumar Paliyath also became part of the ensemble by playing the chenda. Their joyous performance at Rajvalsam in Guruvayur, Kerala, on December 25 went viral.

An upbeat Devanand says, “Of course, it was wonderful to see her play the melam. When I saw the Ponnan’s team at the venue, I wondered if Shilpa would be playing along with them. But then I felt she might find it difficult to play the chenda in her sari and did not think further about it till I saw her walk in with the chenda.”

Soon after the temple thali kettu (marriage) at Guruvayur, the rest of the ceremony was held at Rajvalsam. Shilpa, a student of melam for the last 12 years, had played with the Ponnan’s during the shooting of the Malayalam film Kuttanpillayude Sivarathri in 2018.

Umesh Peringode, the lead player of the Ponnan’s, recalls: “We know Shilpa’s aptitude for melam and her proficiency and so when she invited us for her wedding, we asked her if she would play along to surprise Devanand. Initially, she was a little hesitant.  But then she got into the spirit of the occasion.”

That is how the bride walked into the venue with the percussion team. Shilpa says it was a well-guarded secret that only she, her mother, Rashmi, father and brother, Pranav Sreekumar, knew in addition to the percussionists.