Drama? Too boring. Full of contrived action in a super artificial manner. If these are your general notions about drama, the new historical play ‘Bhakthakavi Poonthanam’ by Aksharakala, Thiruvananthapuram, begs to differ. More than a drama, it’s an entertainer.
At a time when film-makers are too eager to shorten the duration of films, here is a dramatist who has skillfully crafted a two-and-a-half-hour-long play sitting through which one would hardly feel the clock ticking away.
Intelligently blending light and sound, the drama depicts in three parts the life story of Poonthanam, the Malayalam devotional poet who lived in the 16th century. It portrays the incidents that led to the creation of ‘Jnanappana’, the masterpiece of Poonthanam, legends regarding his devoutness to lord Guruvayurappan, his emergence as the devotional poet of the common man and his salvation.
Says director Meenambalam Santhosh, “A lot of devotional songs on lord Krishna are there. Many songs are coming out even now. Even though the younger generation recites the devotional poems written by Poonthanam — ‘Ambadi thannil oru unniyundangane, unnikkorunni kuzhalumundangane...’, ‘Krishna krishna mukunda janardana...’— many of them hardly know him. This emphasises the all-time relevance of his poetry. Thus we decided to make a play on Poonthanam so that the audience can take a glimpse of his life
history.”
Though a Brahmin, Poonthanam had to struggle a lot to be recognised for his literary work. He did not belong to a highly educated family. Most of the Brahmins, highly versed in Vedas and Sastras, looked down on his poems penned in simple Malayalam. Playwright Rajan Kizhakkenela has neatly portrayed this struggle and the social practices that existed during the period.
Apart from real incidents, the author has made some creative attempts to give a comic touch to certain evil practices that were prevalent at that time. There is a character in the play who is hell-bent on bringing down Almighty’s curse on the Poonthanam family. He does this in an intriguing manner. This Brahmin enters Poonthanam’s house, turns round, bends forward and shakes his butt vigorously at the occupants of the house. This act, which is performed to the accompaniment of a rib-tickling music, adds to the hilarious effect.
“In the books on Poonthanam, there are references to some elite Brahmins who used to visit his place with the intention of bringing misfortune to him through their inauspicious deeds. But, the books do not mention the way it was done. So, we thought of presenting this in a different way and came up with the comical sequence,” says Rajan, who has penned over 200 dramas and has won two state awards for the best playwright.
‘Bhakthakavi Poonthanam’ is the fourth historical drama of Aksharakala, established around 10 years ago. ‘Kottayathu Thampuran’ on kathakali, ‘Kathivanoor Veeran’ on theyyam and Palattu Koman were the earlier ones. The troupe has won state awards for ‘Kottayathu Thampuran’, ‘Kathivanoor Veeran’, ‘Niranirayo Nira’ and ‘Vishappinte Puthran’. According to Santhosh, the drama is a fitting reply to those who make outright fun of professional drama artists. “Over the years, drama artists have become a hot topic for mimicry artists. It’s true that there are some mediocre works like in every field. But, they often fail to realise that there are innovations in professional drama. Most people are blindly criticising theatre without ever seeing it. Our only request to the people is to watch the drama before making a comment,’ he says.
Nilambur Mani plays Poonthanam. Apart from poems by Poonthanam, there are songs composed by Aleppey Rishikesh with lyrics by Prabha Varma. Other actors are Kanthalloor Vikraman, Cherai Suresh, Shaji Aralummoodu, Anil Menon, Anitha, Sreelatha Menon and Kerala Appu.
athul@expressbuzz.com