Six Kathakali veterans, including three women, reunite after 20 years for a performance in Kasaragod

Six Kathakali veterans including three women reunite after 20 years for a performance in Kasaragod

Twenty years after her last recital, 68-year-old Hymavathi Raveendran will apply chutti (facial make-up of Kathakali) to play Lord Krishna of Kuchelavritham Kathakali on January 7.

“Happiness!” says Hymavathi when asked about how she feels about returning to the stage.  “There is nervousness as the years have gone by. I hope we are able to live up to expectations but the dominant feeling is of excitement.”

It is a special occasion for Hymavathi, Baby Nair, K Kunhambu Nair, Karthiyani Muniyoor, Ramakrishna Nambiar and Raghunath Kanuthur, all senior citizens who began learning Kathakali in 1964 thanks to an initiative of Cheviri Gopalan Nair (CG Nair), an avid follower of the art form, to bring Kathakali to his village.  

“In those days, or for that matter even now, Kathakali was and is not all that popular in Kasaragod. My father, CG Nair, used to go to places where Kathakali was staged to watch recitals,” recalls Hymavathi.

In the Malayalam month of Karkidakam (June-July), Gopalan Nair used to go for the customary massage with medicinal oils. The masseur used to stay in their house at Bethupara, in Konadukkam, a small village in  Kasaragod. “Many of the masseurs used to be Kathakali artistes and that is when our house used to come alive with Kathakali plays in the evenings. Once they left, my father would again have to travel to watch performances,” recalls Hymavathi.

That is when he thought of getting his only daughter trained in Kathakali. “As far as I know, it was a time when women were never seen on the Kathakali stage. All female roles were played by men. That practice did not dishearten my father,” says Hymavathi.

He invited Govinda Panikkar Asan, who used to come to their house, Malyiekkal, for chavatti thadaval (massaging with feet) to become Hymavathi’s guru at the age of 11. She must have been the first woman to become a student of Kathakali in that region. He also requested neighbours to send their children to learn Kathakali.