Kerala   

Theatre on canvas

DIFFERENT STROKES: The painting exhibition on K.T. Mohammed's plays. - Photo: S. RAMESH KURUP

`A painting theatre,' on the plays of K.T. Mohammed, veteran playwright based in Kozhikode, was a novel idea that the second State-level Surasu Drama Festival came up with. "By painting theatre we meant an attempt to capture the theatre on canvas. We focussed on the plays of Mr. Mohammed. A total of 24 artists across the State participated in the painting camp for this purpose during the drama festival," says Praveen Chandra Moodadi, one of the organisers.

The drama festival was held here from February 22 to 25. The organisers then decided to conduct an exhibition of these paintings, which is currently on at the Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi Art Gallery, Kozhikode.

A sketch of Mr. Mohammed drawn by cartoonist Sageer welcomes one to the exhibition. Most of the paintings are in acrylic medium. Also, most of the painters chose to draw extensively from Mr. Mohammed's masterpiece `Ithi Bhoomiyanu'. The artists gave vent to their imagination on a theme of exploitation of earth based on the play. Biju Kanhangad came up with a painting that incorporates contemporary events. E. Sudhakaran draws his inspiration from `Ithu Bhoomiyanu,' so also Suchitra and Francis Kodankandath. M.C. Sunikumar painted a scene from `Vellappokkam,' another play by Mr. Mohammed.

K. Sudheesh also depicts from `Vellappokkam,' while J.R. Prasad takes a cue from `Srishti,' another play of Mr. Mohammed. Praveen Chandra Moodadi has based his work on `Puthiya Veedu,' while Raghavan Atholi leans on `Ithu Bhoomiyanu.' C. Licy, T.S. Prasad, Jayaprakash Kuloor and Santhosh Nilambur, all base their paintings on `Ithu Bhoomiyanu'.

The exhibition will conclude on March 27, the World Theatre Day. The paintings would be permanently exhibited at a gallery at `Elements,' here soon. "This is perhaps the first of its type of paintings where painting medium is being used to depict another medium, the theatre," says Mr. Praveen.

J.S. BABLU

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