Shows cancelled, mimicry artist takes up farming to tide over crisis
KOCHI: The crisis caused by Covid-19 has forced many to look for alternative means of livelihood. One among them is mimicry artist, actor and skit director Kalabhavan K S Prasad. With stage shows and other events cancelled, Prasad has decided to take up farming to tide over the financial crisis brought on by the pandemic. Aided by his friends, Prasad will start farming on a one-acre land at Karrakullathu here on Wednesday and grow tapioca, lady’s finger and long beans.
“Advocate Stalin and C N Rajeevan are also supporting me in my endeavour. All programmes have been cancelled and we don’t expect any stage shows to be organised for another year due to the Covid-19 scare,” said Prasad.He said the pandemic has severely affected the state’s mimicry artists who rely heavily on stage shows for income. “Kerala has around 750 mimicry artists. While some of them have government jobs or are employed in other organisations, nearly 500 artists are in trouble as they don’t have any alternative sources of income. We are in discussion with various stakeholders to mitigate their troubles,” Prasad said.
Experts in the field said the March-May temple festival season in Kerala has always been the busiest time for mimicry artists due to large number of bookings for stage shows.“The months are generally the golden period for artists as they make enough money to sustain themselves for a year. Their finances are planned based on the income generated from the programmes. However, Covid-19 played spoilsport this year and pushed them into economic crisis,” said Sajan Palluruthy, mimicry artist.