KOCHI: As teenagers, my brother S Sharathkumar Nedungadi and I used to collect leftovers of chutti (makeup) of kathakali artists. I still remember us taking the chutti after the performance of Kalamandalam Gopi asan. At home, we would try to portray the characters and recreate the act in our ways,” says S Sasikala Nedungadi, the veteran Kathakali artiste, who has been performing for the past 43 years.
Recently, upon a special request from litterateur M T Vasudevan Nair, Sasikala performed Edasseri’s famous poem Poothappattu at the Thunchan Smarakam in Tirur. Sharathkumar (60), the older sibling, has been portraying veshams right from the 1970s. It has only been four years since he took a break from stage performances. “I have plans to get back on stage. For now, I’m focusing more on organising shows,” says Sharathkumar, the director of the Cochin Cultural Centre.
The siblings took to kathakali out of pure fascination. “Near our house was the See India Foundation Kathakali Theatre, probably India’s first daily kathakali theatre that used to run shows for foreign tourists daily. While, returning from school, we would hear ‘chenda kottu’. Though we used to rush to the place, we weren’t allowed to watch the performance. Earlier, the stage area used to be covered with palm frond screens. We would make small holes in it to watch the performance,” laughs Sasikala.
Sharathkumar recalls their own little performances. “One would hold a white cloth and the other would perform, and we switched roles. We are agedjust 1.5 years apart, we played and grew up together and our fascination for Kathakali grew stronger too,” he says.
Seeing the siblings’ admiration for the art form, their father took a membership for them at Ernakulam Kathakali club. This was the beginning of an illustrious career as performing artists for both Sharathkumar and Sasikala who went on to perform prominent plays such as Nala Charitham Nalam Divasam, Kalyana Sougandhikam, Uthara Swayamvaram, Bali Vadham and Duryodhana Vadham, to name a few.
The duo, however, say their fascination for the art form did not happen overnight. Daily recitals of the Bhagavatham, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata by their grandmother played a huge role in sowing in their minds the seeds of interest in epic characters.
“Every evening, we used to sit with our grandmother while she recited the verses. The characters are deep-rooted in our memory. Kathakali, therefore, became an avenue to witness our superheroes,” says Sasikala. Sharathkumar adds: “We wondered why we couldn’t become the characters who we so revered. And so, we finally decided to learn kathakali.”
Being from an orthodox family, the idea of a woman performing a male-dominated artform and spending time with men was unimaginable for the elderly women of the house. “Without telling me, my family took my brother to maestro Kalamandalam E Vasudevan Nair. But I was adamant and made it clear that I too wanted to learn from the doyen. Fortunately, my father was supportive and both of us underwent training under him,” says Sasikala.
Winning youth festivals and university competitions, the brother-sister duo became trendsetters. They performed on several stages. “During 1980-85, we were pioneers among youngsters,” says Sasikala, whose daughter Shruthi Vivek is also a kathakali artist. Sharathkumar and Sasikala have also performed with stalwarts such as Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, Kottakkal Sivaraman, Mankulam Vishnu Namboothiri, Madavoor Vasudevan Nair, and Chavara Parukutty Amma, one of the few women exponents who broke into the male bastion.
They even performed for former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former president Giani Zail Singh. “We were the university winners back then, so we were invited to perform for the ministers. For Zail Singh, we did Jayanthan and Lalitha. Their positive response was overwhelming,” adds Sasikala.
A male-dominated artform
Despite many women artists performing today, Sasikala believes kathakali is still a male-dominated artform. “For this statement, I’ve received negative comments from fellow women artistes,” says the artist, who is also the councillor of Ravipuram ward in Kochi.
“Not just the performer, the musicians, make-up artists, and other accompanists are men. Now, however, women are coming forward in all these areas as well, and I’m proud of them, but I still believe male characters can be done well by a man. The costume, which was designed hundreds of years ago, was designed in tune with the physique of a man.”
Men undergo chavitti uzhichil from their masters, whereas women do not undergo this part of training. This process gives men strong body language to adapt to the male characters. “But it is hard for me to think that a woman can outperform a male character with the same perfection. Without undergoing this training, some women wear the kachaaa and perform dominant characters like Raavana straight for five hours or more. I respect them,” says Sasikala, adding that the only male she has portrayed is Lord Krishna.
Sharathkumar echoes her opinion. “That doesn’t mean women are weaker. The art form was designed for men. Physique matters here. Though the identity of artists is not visible when they are in their costume, an experienced artist can differentiate,” he says. The duo agrees that men playing female characters is challenging. “Not all men can take up female characters. But those who have a feminine charisma, with practice can adapt it to perfection,” says Sharathkumar.
‘Kathakali has grown, but lost depth’
“Kathakali is a way of telling stories – each expression, even a subtle movement, conveys a thousand words. Back in those days, stories could be delivered in an inspiring way because artists used to have solid interactions with their masters and fellow performers. Now kathakali lacks such a foundation,” he adds.
Sasikala agrees. “When you perform with the stalwarts, the learning happens not just on stage but continues even after. We used to have conversations all night on characters, and more,” she says.
“Even talks of improvisation happen between us siblings, that’s how we learnt. But today, such bonds and interactions are seldom found.”
Efforts to bring new concepts
Sharathkumar has plans to bring in the theatre concept in the artform. “I have plans to perform kathakali with a touch of traditional Japanese drama kabuki, but I don’t know how it will turn out,” he says. “Kathakali was formulated at a time when there was no electricity, and oil lamps were the sole source of light. So,the ensemble is designed in a way that would look rich and enhanced under the lamp light. Now the colour and richness of the performance seem to lose their essence. Earlier, only the performer was seen, down from the costume, only the foot was visible, now the audience can see whoever is on the stage, this tends to distract them.” He says efforts are being taken to summarise the artform before the performance to help the audience get a better idea about the story.