‘Chakravarthini’ song gets Kathakali makeover

Thrissur: A group of artists led by Kalamandalam Ganeshan have teamed up to choreograph a

Kathakali

show, based on the well-known Malayalam film

song

‘

Chakravarthini

Ninakku Njanente’ authored by poet Vayalar Ramavarma.

According to reports, it is for the first time that a Kathakali show is being choreographed on a film song.

Ganeshan said the idea to develop a Kathakali, based on this song, sprung up during an informal conversation with a friend and media person B R Prasad, about a year ago.

“This song, which is from the film Chembarathi released in 1972, had taken birth from the collective effort of Vayalar Ramavarma-Devarajan-Yesudas combine. The song had several poetic features which could be elaborated in a dance-drama form like Kathakali,” he added.

The show has been conceived as a dream of an eminent sculptor, who is about to make the figurine of the most-beautiful woman.

As he knows that he is unrivalled in his field, he wants this woman’s sculpture to be the best.

The occasion described in the song will be shown on stage: like his invitation to the woman to enter his room barefoot after leaving her footwear made of flowers outside, Ganeshan said. The show culminates with the woman of the sculptor’s dream appearing at his door, which is also the end of his dream.

While Varanad Sanalkumar played the role of the sculptor, in Kathi style, Malavika Namboothiri did the woman’s part (Minukke). Kalamandalam Sajeevkumar and Kalamandalam Krishnakumar are the singers. The song has been rendered in the same meters as that of the original song, set to Kathakali music, Ganeshan said.

The edited version of the show lasts over 17 minutes.

The recorded version of the show was streamed during Vayalar Ramavarma remembrance programme organized by a WhatsApp group of Higher Secondary Malayalam Teachers.

Describing the presentation of the Kathakali, based on the song Chakravarthini, as a historic occasion in the aesthetic lineage of Kerala, lyricist Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma, who is the son of Vayalar Ramavarma, said it deepens the roots and ancestry of the genre of Malayalam film songs.