Author: M.G. Radhakrishnan
Publication: India Today
Date: May 26, 2003
Introduction: Koodiyattam frees
itself with an adaptation of a Kalidasa classic
When Koodiyattam scholar G. Venu
was appointed director of the Sweden-based World Theatre Project, he believed
it was a life-time opportunity that would provide him with the much-touted
global exposure. To his utter surprise, however, what was revealed to him
were some home truths. In what was clearly an eye- opener, Venu learnt
that while Abhijnana Sakuntalam, the celebrated epic of Kalidasa, had been
translated and performed worldwide in languages as diverse as Chinese and
Vietnamese, it had never once been staged in the 2,000-year-old Koodiyattam
style, arguably the world's oldest surviving Sanskrit theatre from Kerala.
Overcome by a sense of shame, Venu
was determined to make amends. As head of Natanakairali, a centre for classical
arts attached to the Ammanur Chakyar Matham, the premier Koodiyattam school
in Irinjalakkuda, Thrissur, he defied all odds to produce and choreograph
the first-ever Koodiyattam play drawing on a Kalidasa classic. Based on
Sakuntalam itself, it spans all the seven acts taking a good 12 hours to
be staged through four days.
The task, admittedly, proved to
be an arduous one. With no precedent to fall back on, Venu had to start
afresh. Holding an international seminar and workshop attended by Koodiyattam
scholars, including the only living patriarch of the art, Ammanur Madhava
Chakyar, was the first step. From the pool of ideas emerged an acting and
production manual, an essential requirement for Koodiyattam which is characterised
by its complex grammar and dramatic nuances.
"The real difficulty lay in convincing
traditionalists about some of the experiments we had to make in keeping
with Koodiyattam's uniqueness," says Venu, pointing to the fact that it
was only three decades ago that the art form came out of the temples. Until
recently, no one outside the Chakyar community even performed Koodiyattam.
All that has, however, changed with
Venu's version of Sakuntalam with its freer structure. Giving the character
of Sakuntala a feminist angle, Venu has boldly depicted her rage on being
spurned by King Dushyanta. He has also introduced new stage characters
like the fisherman who recovers the ring that Dushyanta gave Sakuntala.
"Initially, purists were annoyed with the move," admits Venu. "I had to
convince them that they were necessary to present the play in a dramatic
format."
For the purists, the "undue" emphasis
on the dramatic element compromises the very style of Koodiyattam which
entails elaboration of a brief text through extended acting. This allowed
for the portrayal of the "poetic quality of the text with multiple layers
of meaning, figures of speech and expression". Says Margi Madhu, a Koodiyattam
performer: "The accent on dramatics is cutting out what is best about Koodiyattam.
This may bring initial popularity but interest will wane eventually."
Not everyone agrees. Sanskrit scholar
K.G. Paulose, for instance, sees Venu's presentation as the most significant
moment in the history of Koodiyattam. "It has brought back the element
of drama which was lost when other Sanskrit plays were adapted for Koodiyattam,"
he says.
Declared a "masterpiece of the oral
and intangible heritage of humanity" by unesco last year, Koodiyattam had
traditionally omitted Kalidasa's works while drawing on the plays of other
ancient Sanskrit dramatists like Bhasa, Harsha, Sakthibhadra, Asvaghosha
and Kulasekhara.
There are several theories to explain
these exclusions. According to Koodiyattam scholar Sudha Gopalakrishnan,
"Kalidasa's language with its rich poetic nuances does not lend very easily
to choreographic treatment." Art critic M.G. Shashibhushan says the popularity
of Kalidasa's literary work must have unnerved those wanting to try it
out in a different form.
Paulose, however, looks at it as
a reflection of the times. "In all arts of the feudal age, women were depicted
only as objects of lust," he says. "Sakuntalam was ahead of its times as
it went beyond the physical." While it is evident that the Koodiyattam
presentation of Sakuntalam seeks to break new ground, the question whether
it has closed the time gap is still open.
