KOCHI: With its vivid colours and intricate designs, the kathakali mask has, over the years, become synonymous with Kerala’s rich cultural heritage. And among the many artists who perform this dance-drama, there’s one face that has come to personify the state’s cherished art form — Kalamandalam Gopi, fondly known as Gopi Asan.
So, when Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) thought of an artwork to present the soul of Kerala to the passengers that pass through its gates, CEO S Suhas didn’t have to think twice. And thus was born Navarasas — nine frames depicting the Navarasas of Bharathan, the architect of Indian theatre and abhinaya. It now adorns the wall of CIAL’s Business Jet Terminal.
But one would wonder, why an airport, where people come just to board the planes, would need such an extensive collection of rare artwork.
Well, Suhas points out that the airport is not just a transport hub. “It’s also where people relax and unwind after each leg of their travel. And what better way to do that than by an immersion in art? Art that also provides a peek into Kerala,” he says.
“To depict Kerala, usually it’s an artwork portraying our flora and fauna, the landscape and backwaters; or our rich heritage and culture. We had already done up the 0484 Lounge with rare landscapes and backwaters. So this time, we decided on kathakali and subsequently, Navarasas as the theme,” Suhas adds.
However, blindly painting just the nine rasas was not something that sat well with the CIAL team. So they decided to get an artist. “And who better than Gopi Asan? He embodies kathakali,” Suhas says.
The large life-like paintings have Gopi Asan in his famous Pacha Vesham. His face and the minutest wrinkles that form while expressing a bhava, the intensity of his eyes that changes as he transforms from Sringara to Karuna, all are viscerally depicted by famous watercolour artist Mopasang Valath in his frames.
“I don’t just want to find a few videos of Asan and then copy his face to the frame. That seemed very common and uninspired for such a work that would introduce Kerala to all those who arrive here. So we decided to approach Gopi Asan himself,” Mopasang explains.
Mopasang and Dr Rajasekhar P Vaikom, another kathakali exponent and a civil engineer associated with construction activities of CIAL, approached Gopi Asan with their request — to perform the Navarasas for them.
And Asan, who hasn’t entered the stage or arangu in years, immediately said yes. “We knew it was a rare chance to once again witness him on the stage. He said yes, despite his ailments. And we set out to his home with our cameras,” Mopasang says.
It was raining that day, he recalls. But Asan without any reservation was ready to once again sit down for the chutti. The entire team was those who had worked with Asan for years. And on the Arangu, sitting on a stool, he showcased the Navarasas, something that comes to his as easy as breathing now.
“We wanted him in the full regalia. Him, at his best. And then preserve this rare talent, at least a fraction of it, into the frame. And Asan enjoyed the process. By the end of it, he was smiling and gave as an impromptu performance, a few tidbits from famous attakathas as requested by the audience,” Mopasang smiles.
Asan was impressed with the idea when Mopasang and Rajashekahar approached him. “Well, I felt that people could learn about Navarasas through these paintings. Especially, those from outside Kerala as they will be displayed at the airport. They can see an aspect of Kathakali in front of them as they arrive,” Asan says.
The entire process, he thinks, was finished soon. “After Covid, I stopped performing. My legs are not doing good. I think I performed only once in the past four years, a part of Nakacharitham at Guruvayoor while sitting. This is probably the second. But this was not a proper performance, just expressing,” says Asan, who is expected to visit the airport on Friday.
Navarasam is as important to kathakali as air and water to earth. It’s the basics of abhinaya, where the rasas, integral to classical art forms in India, achieve a much more elaborate shape. In kathakali, the nine rasas become more theatrical, face muscles, almost all of them, engage together to show Adbhutam (wonder), Hasyam (comic), Sringaram (love), Bheebatsam (repulsion), Bhayanakam (fear), Roudram (anger), Veeram (pride), Karunam (sympathy) and Shantham (peace).
After taking photos and videos of the little performance that hardly lasted two hours, the team went back. And Mopasang began his work. “It was a scary task. But made easy by the easy camaraderie of Asan on the stage. But that meant, I had to pay justice to the guru, who gave us hours of his time,” Mopasang says.
It took him three tries to get everything right. “I destroyed all the initial works,” he says. “They weren’t right. The eyes, the wrinkles around the mouth, I couldn’t get them all to the same extent. I wanted people to imagine a real Kathakali performance in front of them,” Mopasang says.
Finally, it took eight months for Mopasang to successfully depict them on canvas.
Nine faces of Gopi Asan, in the pacha vesham, are immortalised in nine frames at the airport. Not the adornment, not the kireedam, nor the elaborate kathakali attire, but the face and the minute expression in it fills these frames.
“I wanted people to see the glory, the intensity and the fire without any disturbance, in the small space of a canvas. They meant everything other than the face was a disturbance,” the artist explains.
And as one takes in the works, placed beside the life-sized representation of a scene from the Mohini Vijayam Attakatha, Gopi Asan’s eyes follow you around, just like Monalisa. The eyes, above all, are where the fire lies, the fire that now lights up faces as they pass through the airport terminal.