THIRUVANATHAPURAM: P R Sreekumar is a proud man these days. For, he could tell the story of Chavara Parukutty, who has completed 50 years as a Kathakali artist, an incredible feat for a woman in this genre. This Secretariat employee, who has many documentaries to his credit, is ready with ‘Chavara Parukutty- Kathakaliyile Sthreeparvam’, which will be screened at Parukutty’s home town Chavara on April 17. Also, she will be honoured by her home town on the occasion.
“She is a terrific individual. At 68, her energy and vibrancy have to be seen to be believed. After the screening, she would be coming on stage as Damayanti from ‘Nalacharitham - Onnam Divasam’ , ie the 16-year-old Damayanti,” says Sreekumar, adding, “We were in awe of the dedication of this artist while shooting for the documentary.”
Parukutty, at 68, is busy performing, teaching and even learning Kathakali. “Don’t give me any greatness. It is all because of my gurus, my co-artists and well-wishers that I am around even now,” is all that she has to say. Like a child, she also shares, “I would like to perform abroad, at least once.”
The reason why she wanted to learn ‘aattam’ (dance) was a neighbour who taunted her calling ‘Aattakkari’. “As a little girl, I liked dressing up and dancing around. When she called me by that name, I didn’t quite like it and told my father (Sankaranachari) that I wanted to learn ‘aattam’.” He found a Kathakali guru for her, Muthupilakkadu Gopalapanicker.
When Parukutty was taken to him, she presented the 24 mudras of dance she had learnt from her dance teacher in school in order to impress him! “I thought that was enough for Kathakali. But when he said that I had to learn much more, I was adamant that I had to perform at Kottakkulangara temple that Onam itself. He agreed and I took training even bunking my Pre-University classes.” It was in 1961 that she gave her first performance, ‘Poothanamoksham’. She is now almost synonymous with ‘Poothanamoksham’ in Kathakali circles.
It was Parukutty’s strong desire to put ‘chutti’ (Kathakali make-up) that took her to Poruvazhi Gopalapillai, her second guru, under whom she put ‘chutti’ for Krishna of ‘Rugmini Swayamvaram’. Interestingly, she had developed nausea once the make-up was done and even vomitted! She went on to do many female and male characters and some memorable roles like Malayathi of ‘Nizhalkkuthu’ (of Mankombu Sankarapillai). The character Devayani was safe in her hands, thanks to her third guru Mankulam Vishnu Namboodiri. There was this incident at Chottanikkara temple when Kudamaloor Karunakaran Nair who was supposed to do Devayani’s role happily changed to another role offering her Devayani.
A bold person by nature, Parukutty has displayed that on the stage as well. For instance, when no female Kathakali artist is known to have come on stage as Parasurama (due to specific costume restrictions), she did the role, wearing a body-coloured costume. “I wanted to prove a point. The only suggestion I got was that I should have walked around with a little more majesty. Well, how much more majesty can you expect from a 4.8-ft tall woman?,” she says, laughing aloud.
These days, she is busy learning ‘Kathi vesham’ from Madavur Vasudevan Nair. “I am doing it to prove that Parukutty too can do it! Though Madavur ‘asan’ often makes fun that I am not regular for the classes, I’m sure that I will definitely perform it with perfection one day.”
It has been a contented artistic life for Parukutty, mother of Dhanya S Kumar, a dancer. She vividly remembers those instances when she got ‘trapped’ in the green room among male co-artists cracking jokes with double-meaning! “They often forget I am around and once, I even had to run out when I couldn’t contain the laughter!”
‘Chavara Parukutty- Kathakaliyile Sthreeparvam’ is produced by Kurinji Cultural Forum. Madavur Vasudevan Nair and ‘chutti’ artist Kalanilayam Parameswaran will be honoured at the function, which will be attended by Minister N K Premachandran.
m_athira@newindpress.com
