KOCHI: As the sun slowly set on the horizon in a village in North Malabar, a few boys or young watchmen, in a corner of the vast paddy fields covered with vellari vines, could be seen setting up a ramshackle stage comprising a few poles, streamers and lanterns. As the night progressed, the small stage and area around it soon got occupied by other boys and men who had been posted in the surrounding fields.
Finally, the play gets under way. The aforementioned scene was prevalent in many villages in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts as far back as the early 1900s. However, over the years, as agriculture took a back seat, modern technology entered the scene, and youngsters no longer involved in the farming process, the custom of having watchmen also died out, along with the vellari nadakams. But this form of folk theatre, which the aficionados claim to be a predecessor of the modern-day Kerala drama, is getting revived.
Speaking to TNIE, A K Paramala, who directs vellari nadakam, and a member of the group that has been actively involved in the revival of the theatre form, said, “Vellari nadakam got a shot in the arm when it was included as a chapter in the SCERT’s Class VII textbook for art education in the 2024- 25 academic year. And very recently, the theatre form reappeared at the 64th Kerala School Arts Festival that was held in Thrissur.
The drama called Cycle was presented in the vellari nadakam format by the students of Mount Carmel Higher Secondary School, Kottayam. A revival movement is happening, he added.
According to him, the revival movement is happening through the organisation called Vellaripadam Theatres, based at Areekode in Malappuram district. “We are a group of 100 people who are dedicated to reviving the theatre form. All of us are actors, directors, scriptwriters and producers,” he added.
Explaining more about the need to preserve and revive such art forms, he said, “Vellaripadam Theatres began performing in 2017 and has since then staged many plays all over North Kerala. The drama titled ‘Viththum Kaikottum’ had a very good run with even the state government giving us opportunities at many of the festivals organised by it,” said Paramala.
But what is Vellari Nadakam? He explains, “Young boys guarding the vellari fields got together, wrote small scripts and staged plays in the fields with the consent of the land owners. These plays resembled musicals. These plays would have dialogues that appealed to the children employed as watchmen of the fields.
These plays have many differences from modern theatre. Here, all characters are played by boys. This is because no women were employed as watchmen. And agriculture is the main theme of the play, besides having a moral lesson. If the audience requested to see any part of the play again, it would be re-enacted. Although the dialogues were in verse form in the early days, they later shifted to the vernacular.”
Vellaripadam Theatres has performed the vellari play ‘Viththum Kaikkottum’ at about 25 venues.