BENGALURU: Kapila Venu was introduced to Nangiar Koothu at a very early age. “Both my parents were very passionately involved in the study of Nangiarkoothuand Kutiyattam when I was little,” says the 35-year-old performer.The Nangiarkoothu performer willl be seen in a traditional theatre act on Tagore’s Chitrangadacharitham at MLR convention Centre, JP Nagar on October 7,7pm. The show is being presented by Bhoomija.
Nangiarkoothu is the solo narrative performance style of the female performers (actresses) of Kutiyattam, explains Kapila. Actreses are known as nangiar. Traditionally, stories from the life of Krishna were told in continuity using gesture and movement in front of an oil lamp in various temples in Kerala, says the artiste. “It is most well known for the art of netrabhinaya (acting with and through the eyes) and hastabhinaya (gesture),” says the Irinjalakuda resident.
She took to Kutiyattam formally at the age of 7. “I learnt from Kutiyattam performer Late Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar. I trained under Usha Nangiar for the first fivee years and then with Guru Ammannur and my father G Venu,” she says.Guru Ammannur’s school is especially known for the rasavayu technique (the systematic practice of emotion in relation to breath), informs Kapila.
The artiste read Tagore’s one-act play “Chitra” several years ago and like her father, fell in love with the character -Chitrangada. “We have always loved women warriors and had been looking for such narratives,” she says. The play gets her teary-eyed every time she reads it. The father-daughter duo found immense scope in the play to be moulded into a performance, owing to Tagore’s descriptive writing of Chitra’s beautiful mind and her complex emotional turmoils of being in love, in conflict with her body, her identity and her real self.
In terms of keeping a traditional theatre performance relevant to the urban audience, the biggest challenge an artiste faces is with the content, says Kapila. She believes that the content needs to be releatable for the audience. “As practitioner, we need to make sure that art forms evolve in a way that is healthy for the society,” she adds.
However, it is not too difficult to get an audience for Nangiar Koothu, says the artiste. “Not too many people know about it like they would about other popular classical forms, but Nangiar Koothu performances generally have the reputation for being captivating and intense,” justifies Kapila, who has been a solo professional from last 16 years.
During her performance, the mizhavu (a special copper drum/precursion instrument) accompaniment will be provided by Kalamandalam Rajeev and Kalamandalam Hariharan. Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan will be on the edakka.
Kapila says that her performance aims to lead the audience into the mind of Chitra, the warrior princess, her struggle with love and passion and finally the fruition of her life through self acceptance.