Kathakali - Kerala's Classical Dance Drama

Yesterday for the first time I watched a live performance of the popular Malayalam art form Kathakali. Being a keralite, it is quite late in the day that I am coming to appreciate this art form. My family was quite amused that I am travelling all the way from Bandra to far off Bhandup (quite remote place for us Bandraites) to watch Kathakali, which they presume I know much of and must have watched it many times. Yes on TV but not live. I may have attended a few concerts when I was young but I guess I slept through it as I don’t have any memories.

So I go to Bright School at Bhandup where the 3-day Kathakali festival is on. It is being conducted on a small stage in a small corner of the school where less than 100 can be seated in plastic chairs. It is extremely hot with the audience and artists dripping with sweat. The air from the high ceiling fans does not reach one and of course no air-conditioner. The show starts at 6.30 pm, I reach around 6.45. I decide at the very beginning that I will leave by 8.30 or 9 as I may not be able to take the heat of that place. Besides I will also be hungry by then and home is one hour away.

I begin watching and neither time nor the heat nor hunger hits me. I am enthralled even though I know nothing of the stories that they enact.
This Kathakali artist here is 76-years old!.

The whole synchronisation of the drama with the percussion instruments the chenda and the maddalam is so beautiful. The Sopanam style of rendition of the songs which has its roots from the temple songs, indeed makes you feel that you are being transported to a heavenly abode.

What caught my attention was that for years I have heard about the unique make-up that Kathakali artists adorn but never gave so much a thought to it, only understanding that it takes 4-5 hours and is a laborious task both for the make-up man and the Kathakali artist.

But yesterday I looked at the make-up with different eyes. It reminded me of the two most important constituents of our face – the eyes and the lips. Kathakali speaks of love, anger, devotion, jealously, hatred, beauty, sadness, joy with these two components of the face. Kathakali beautifies and mystifies the eyes and lips in such a way to show the entirety of emotions through the eyes and lips. And indeed it is the eyes and the lips that reflect the soul that resides within us and with it our whole inner being and emotions.

Most importantly this art form is not about the artist, it is about the art. Most art forms revolve around the artist and his or her greatness and fame (and the numerous awards to his name). There the artist brings in more about him or herself, than the art and that is where everything to me is lost.

Well for a keralite I might be too late in the day in understanding and enjoying this art form but like they say better late than never. Truly it has filled my soul with a lot of my own stories.