THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the pandemic struck Onam season last year, a few ‘pulikali’ artists enthralled the world by performing on the virtual platform. As many as 26 pulikali artists performed from their homes, and the group went live on Facebook. And this year, Facebook has come up with a short film that narrates this tale, honouring the spirit of Onam.
The film titled ‘Roar Together’ features members of Ayyanthole Desam Pulikkali Samghataka Samithi who performed live on Facebook. The whole effort was pioneered by Krishna Prasad, publicity convenor of the samithi. Facebook has now captured the story behind Krishna Prasad’s efforts to bring the artists together and organise a virtual art performance during the time of the pandemic.As many as 65,000 people viewed the performance online, a feat that would not have been achieved if held offline, says Krishna Prasad.
“Last year, when the lockdown was imposed, all festivities were cancelled. The artists were upset. That’s when it occurred to me: If classes can be held online, why can’t we take our art also online? Almost everyone in Kerala owns a smartphone and everyone has a Facebook account. So we knew that Facebook was the best platform to communicate,” says Krishna.
A two-week-long preparation went into it, whereby all artists were introduced to the virtual platform and after many online rehearsals, they went live on Facebook on September 3 last year. The tale has been captured in the short of eight minutes and 48-seconds duration. “With this, we could take the artform to a larger crowd. If the performance was held offline, as usual, probably around 5,000 people would have watched it. But having gone online through Facebook, a lot of people watched our performance,” says Krishna. This year too, pulikali performers are going live with their performance on the Facebook page of the samithi. The team will be performing at 3pm on August 24. This year, six selected pulikali artists will be performing.
Avinash Pant, director - marketing, Facebook India, said, “This film has captured the spirit and resilience of people and the numerous ways in which they have come together on the platform in not a normal time. This is an extraordinary story and we believe it deserves a wider canvas to showcase the power of online communities in a physically distant world.”