THRISSUR: Mimicry has always been a crowd-puller at the Kerala School Youth Festival. But the overbearing influence of TV programmes and lack of originality in the acts presented this time left the judges and audience a disappointed lot. The saving grace of the event was the high participation of female performers. In fact, they outshone the boys. Of the seven girls who participated in the event, three of them went on to receive A grades. Boys got the remaining two.
Many of the participants mimicked the voices of Sasi Kalinga, Chemban Vinod Jose, Vinay Forrt, Mammootty and Parvathy. Some of them brought up current issues such as cyclone Ockhi and the Kasaba controversy surrounding Parvathy’s comments against Mammootty.
“We were expecting something better, but it was a case of more of the same. It was disappointing to see them mimicking the same old sounds of trains, animals and actors,” said L Jayalakshmi, a member of the audience.
Actor and mimicry artiste Joby and Padmanabhan Thampi, who judged the event, told Express that the influence and predominance of TV programmes on the performers was evident in the acts. “We expected some originality in the acts by the children, which was lacking. But they are a talented lot and can improve,” said Joby.
“Mimicry is associated with fun and joy, but those aspects were missing from the acts. They were acting within the frame and weren’t ready to step out of it. You can shine only with an out-of-the-box performance,” said Thampi.