Of love and envy
MANU REMAKANT
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`Kathivannoor Veeran' was staged to a packed hall in Thiruvananthapuram.
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PHOTO: S. MAHINSHA
TALE FOR ALL TIMES: A scene from `Kathivannoor Veeran.'
Good art does have its takers. That explains the packed hall when `Kathivannoor Veeran,' a play which bagged the State award for the best drama, was staged in Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan, in Thiruvananthapuram.
Meenambalam Santhosh, who got the award for the best director, delved into mythology to come up with a play that addresses contemporary issues. He skilfully blurred the past and the present, the myth and the reality to produce a unique effect on stage.
"You cannot distance yourself to become a spectator watching a mythological story that happened in the remote past," he says.
The story
If you skim through the surface, you can set back and enjoy a popular folk tale. Mandappan spends an easy going life at Mangat against the wishes of his aging parents.
This provokes his father to take a decision to deny his son food and shelter unless Mandapan mends his ways. Shunned by his parents and friends, Mandappan decides to go to Kudaku, where he has to mould his destiny with the help of his uncle.
The warrior in Mandappan, very soon picks up a quarrel with the local people in Kudaku. But more dangerous than his enemies is his love for Chammarathy, a cantankerous Malayali woman who curses people at the drop of a hat.
The valiant Mandapan, alias Kathivannur Veeran, sticks to his gun, and marries Chammarathy against the advice of his uncle. It proves to be a costly decision.
In a fit of anger and spite, provoked by a wily cousin of Mandappan, Chammarathy curses her husband on his way to the battle front. Mandappan is killed in the battle.
Reading the strange incidents of his life, the Kathivannur family discovers the superhuman elements in Mandappan and he is posthumously deified as Kathivannur Veeran.
Rajan Kizhakanela adapts the story of Kathivannur Veeran, a Theyyam performance in North Kerala, to teach us some important lessons of life.
The first scene, which depicts the life of Mandappan and his parents, is a straight narrative. Comedy and melodrama are skilfully blended into the tapestry of the story.
A message
The most captivating part of the play was the message that was driven home. It highlights a woman's role in a family.
When a furious Chammarathy curses her husband, she does not realise that she is cursing herself.
In the end, when she immolates herself on the pyre of her husband, she is consumed by the fire of anger and envy that was created by her.
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