The Hindu : Kerala News : ‘Chaplaankatta’ takes the bow

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Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008
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Kerala

‘Chaplaankatta’ takes the bow

Revolution through story-telling. That was what the master story-teller Kedamangalam Sadanandan, who died on Sunday aged 84, had attempted in his six-decade-long career.

He used the ‘chaplaankatta,’ the quintessential symbol of the Kathaaprasangam artiste, as the weapon of social revolution and of political empowerment of the working class. Alongside his illustrious colleague V. Sambasivan, Mr. Sadanandan resurrected Kathaaprasangam, which until then had been used by religious preachers and propagandists, and used it for social change.

Both Sambasivan and Sadanandan were Communist co-travellers who used their talents for the promotion of their ideology. Like many other artists of his generation that had strived for Independence and social equality, art was not for art’s sake for Sadanandan, though he was a master professional in his field. That generation believed that art has a well-defined social responsibility and that the artist should always stand by the poor, the powerless.

They hugged the spirit of the freedom struggle, the values of Kerala’s renaissance movement and the dreams of an egalitarian society spawned by Communism. They paved, and smoothened, the way for the next generation and were happy that their lives had benefited other lives.

Oral story-telling is an ancient Indian tradition. Each State has its own ethnic forms of formalised story-telling. In Kerala, Harikatha Kaalakshepam, which was used for religious and moral teachings, flourished for a long time. Kathaaprasangam, which is a more popular and secular descendant of Kaalakshepam, was mainly used for entertaining the rural masses. It was in the hands of Sambasivan and Sadanandan that the art form secured its current status and social role. Through them world classics (Sambasivan’s Othello, for instance) became household names in rural Kerala. Kathaaprasangam demanded from its practitioner not just the story-telling skill, but lots of singing, acting, mimicking and many other talents.

The stalwarts have put aside their ‘chaplaankattas’ for ever and taken their bow before Time.

And, under the onslaught of the television and technology, the humble ‘chaplaankatta’ is fading out.

K.P.M. Basheer

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