The Kathakali show was about to commence. The Aniyara (back stage/green room) comes to life. The nostalgic yellow light from the incandescent bulbs sets the mood. Artistes get down to apply face painting basics (readying a Kathakali character takes hours). The support team is busy keeping the props in place. Here comes a visually nervous organizer. He gulps and glances around. “Can we change today’s story?” he asks. The bustling green room comes to a halt. “The veteran artiste has fallen sick. We are unable to get a suitable fill-in at this hour.” the anxiety keeps him out of breath. His concern is tenable. For the brickbats will be all his if the show flops.
All eyes are now on the Second in line sitting there. He has to call the shots now. Seeing in the hand held mirror he is retouching his make-up. He Looks up at the organizer he replies, “Sir, it is difficult. We have already transformed into the part assigned to us. We can’t switch to another role now.” The performance happened with the same story and a younger artiste replacing the dropout. This incident, however, triggers thoughts on the transformation of a real human to a fictional character-the inner journey.
The inner journey is all about adding life to a scripted character, by a human being, through realistic acting. Many times, the artistes of a group performance come to know the part they have to play only when they step into the green room. The clock for the character evolution starts ticking from then. The training and rehearsal sequences, readings on relevant texts, observation of others’ performances and comments and feed backs from the connoisseurs all get stirred up to get a perfect milieu. Thoughts are also given to improvisation sequences. Some artistes discuss and develop improvisations in advance, whereas some others take it instinctively.
The ability to transform (to the role) is paramount to any actor /actress. There are many instances of performing artistes moving to other branches for lacking this perfection. The actors turning director and vice versa which is very common in movies is an example of this switch.
The changeover isn’t just imitation, it involves acquiring physical and emotional elements of the character’s personality. One remembers how a late veteran who had deep small pox scars on the face looked perfect as he donned Gods and Kings on the stage. We have also seen how a real life Ram Bhakt, Arvind Trivedi, acquired a diametrically opposite trait to live as Ravana in the Ramayan serial. Such examples are inexhaustive.
The realistic acting, by grasping the emotions of the characters, finds good case studies in various Koodiyattam scenes. Koodiyattam, incidentally, is the sole surviving form of the ancient Sanskrit theatre said to be over 2000 years old. Late Ammannoor Madhava Chakiar, a Padamabhushan awardee, is widely extolled for presenting the death throes with a real to life perfection during the enactment of Bali’s (Ramayana) death in Koodiyattam
There is also another anecdote about Koodiyattam’s attempt to enliven the part on the stage. Once an actor doing Garuda (the legendary bird) in a play is said to be found really flying to a nearby place. Some believe it was none other than Garuda himself. The place, named after the play, still keeps alive the memories of that fabular incident. It is near Thrissur in Kerala. Actors grew skeptical for doing that part thereafter, it is said. Normally the flying sequence in theatre is depicted using suspended ropes.
Acting is not pretention, but personifying the persona. Each actor has his/her own creative way of doing it. That contributes to variety. This perhaps answers the query why people go to the same show over and over. It is diverse repetition that breeds entertainment.
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By K.V.Murali Mohan
A passionate freelance writer and ardent communicator - Double Post Graduate in communication subjects -Recipient of Kulapati Gold Medal and TKM Rao award in Journalism - Credited with four decades of literary pursuit spanning over 300 plus articles in national and regional publications.
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