TRIPUNITHURA: “it may be difficult to find a nala matching the dhamayanthi of kottakkal sivaraman,” remarked renowned kathakali critic k p s menon in his book, kathakali rangam.
kottakkal sivaraman dominated the arena of female characters in kathakali for over five decades, unrivalled. he started his career as the disciple of his uncle and legendary kathakali actor, vazhenkada kunju nair.
according to his uncle’s advice, sivaraman began practising kathakali to give a new vista for the female characters with myriad mannerisms. thus, he started with the unforgettable mohini in rugmangada charitham, and the rest is history.
unlike other art forms, in kathakali, the female characters are portrayed by male actors.
though one can find many celebrities like kalamandalam ramankutty nair, kalamandalam gopi, nelliyodu vasudevan namboothiri, and madavoor vasudevan nair donning male characters like dhuryodhanan, nalan, and dushasanan, it is quite difficult to find an actor who don female characters with ease and grace in a flawless manner.
though legendary actor kalamandalam krishnan nair started his career with the sobriquet ‘poothana krishnan,’ he too later changed to male characters. in that generation, only kudamaloor karunakaran nair could win the hearts of connoisseurs with his female characters like sairandhri, seetha and dhamayanthi.
after kudamaloor’s period, female characters in kathakali got popularity through the unparalleled acting potential of sivaraman.
as the disciple of the legendary actor, vazhenkada kunju nair sivaraman could don almost all female characters along with vazhenkada kunju nair, kalamandalam krishnan nair, and keezhpadam kumaran nair.
unlike his predecessors, sivaraman was always keen to give a touch of his own, rooted in a detailed study of the mystic mind of each female character. the character of panchali bears entirely different mannerisms on different occasions, sivaraman used to share his views and vision on his characters with this correspondent. “we have to adopt different acting styles while breathing life into these characters, he said.
“sairandhri in keechaka vadham is an example. though irayimman thampi had described keechaka as kumathe (with perverted mind), i never used the gestures for this particular descirption while enacting the role of sairandhri. see that in keechaka vadham, the story line is happening in the kingdom of viraata, where sairandhri is just a maid, and keechaka the commander of the army, and also the brother of sudheshna, the wife of the king of viraata. then, how can a maid servant address him as kumathe, sivaraman explained the reasons for his improvisations made on sarandhri’s role, on his return to the greenroom after the staging of kathakali at tripunithura thamaramkulangara sree dharma sastha temple in 1997.
with the demise of kottakkal sivaraman, an era of female characters has ended in the annals of kathakali.
sivadas varma