TRIPUNITHURA: Kathakali exponent Kalamandalam Pradeep Kumar on Sunday set a new record in traditional dance forms by enacting the complete life of Ravana in a ten-hour-long performance titled ‘Dashasyam’. The record will be marked in the Limca Book of Records.
The performance, which was held at the Kalikotta Palace here from 7.20 pm on Saturday to 6.30 am on Sunday, struck a chord with hundreds of Kathakali ‘rasikas’.
The non-stop performance, portraying five different Ravanas from Ravanothbhavam, Ravana Vijayam, Balivadham, Thoranayudham and Yudham, five important stories from the Ramayana, reflected the acting acumen and stamina of the artist.
The audience was elated by the elegant presentation of the ‘veeryam’ (heroic), ‘raudra’ (furious), ‘sringara’ (love) and ‘hasya’ (comedy) expressions of Ravana.
After setting the record, Pradeep told Express that the success of his programme would add to the fame of the art. “Kathakali artists must come up with such performances to popularise the art,” he said.
The 40-odd artists who supported Pradeep in his performance include Kalamandalam Neeraj, Pranav P Kumar, Kalamandalam Radhakrishnan, Vellinezhi Haridas, Kalamandalam Adithyan, Kalamandalam Pramod, Kalamandalam Chinosh Balan and Kalamandalam Praveen.
The orchestra team included Nedumbilli Rammohan, Kalamandalam Krishnadas, Sadanam Sivadas and Kalamandalam Balasundaran. Pradeep Kumar was born in Palakkad. He learned Kathakali for about eight years at the Kerala Kalamandalam. He was trained by K G Vasudevan Nair, Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair, Kalamandalam Gopalakrishnan and Vazhenkada Vijayan.