Young Kathakali artistes get into a creative mode

Pancharathram Kathakali festival offered a platform to young artistes

Kalamandalam Vaisakh is 35, and has been a professional Kathakali actor for over 15 years. Yet he got a chance to perform the challenging role of Bahukan in ‘Nalacharitam’ for the first time recently. It is not surprising since in Kathakali artistes gradually graduate gradually to playing major roles, the preserve of senior performers. These conventional barriers now seem to be fading as talented actors claim their spot in the limelight and organisers too have become more open-minded.

Vaisakh and 29-year-old Kalamandalam Adithyan got such precious opportunities at Pancharathram, a five-day Kathakali festival organised recently by Vazhenkada Kunchunair Memorial Trust in Karalmanna in collaboration with Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, a wing of the Ministry of Culture. The festival featured 16 performances over five days with over 100 artistes, including musicians, percussionists and make up artistes.

According to the organisers, the focus of Pancharathram was to offer meaty roles to the actors, and not in presenting the entire play. This approach ensured that more stories were presented and more artistes were accommodated. ‘Pancharathram’ was structured with three segments. In the first, promising young actors were given major solo roles and encouraged to devise new descriptive pieces that are imaginative and poetic but at the same time character-centric.

In the second, seniors actors were given highly structured roles that demand strict adherence to the attaprakaram or actor’s manual and do not allow much latitude to improvise. The third segment featured performances by pairs of actors to show how the chemistry between the actors has a positive impact on audience experience.

Says Vaisakh: “To me, performing as Bahukan in ‘Nalacharitam Moonnamdivasam’, which has been immortalised by legends, was extremely challenging. I did a lot of home work and referred to several books to prepare for the role. Particularly, the scene that shows Bahuka in the forest after leaving his wife and waiting for a reunion with Damayanthi. I wanted the scene to be optimistic in tone and used neo-classical imagery that is in sync with Kathakali literature. I depicted a story of two birds perched on a tree escaping dangers from a hunter and a python. I compared the birds to Nala and Damayanthi.”

Kalamandalam Adityan performed the role of Nala in ‘Moonnamdivasam’, which begins with Nala sitting forlorn in the forest after deserting Damayanthi. Says Adithyan: “During my post-graduation I was trained in ‘Nalacharitam’ at Kalamandalam by Gopi Asaan. Hence I was familiar with the text and the actor’s manual. But this is a complex role where Nala’s state of mind vacillates between despondency and equanimity.”

Both Vaisakh and Adithyan believe getting such challenging roles is crucial for young artists. “It gives us an opportunity for self-assessment. For example I realised I need to slow down in certain segments to better convey my thoughts to the viewers,” says Adithyan. Vaisakh says the response of his peers has boosted his confidence.