Playwright with a global vision
BHAWANI CHEERATH
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Kavalam Narayana Panicker, who received the Padma Bhushan this year, has a body of work that transcends geographical boundaries and yet has its roots in the art forms of Kerala.
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Photo: S. Mahinsha
UNIVERSAL APPEAL: Kavalam Narayana Panicker proves that no art form can be isolated from one another.
Kavalam Narayana Panicker defies categorisation. He is a poet, playwright and director, but beyond that his personality and body of work transcend geographical boundaries and, yet at the core, he is a Malayali, and Indian too.
Natural therefore that a question on the Padma Bhushan he received this year elicits a calm response. "National honours have their value, no doubt. But it also depends on the stage at which one receives it. The award I received from the State Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1974, gave me greater joy because it came at a time when people were questioning whether my plays really could be called so."
Well set in his genre of theatre, Kavalam voices his feelings thus: "Work has become so much a part of me. Recognitions would not provide new zest which I receive from my work."
Sanskrit drama and folk art
One striking aspect of Kavalam's plays is the strength he draws from folk tradition as well as classical Sanskrit theatre. Often accused of relying on Sanskrit plays to appeal to a select audience both in India and abroad, Kavalam has a totally different take on it. "The works of Bhasa and Kalidasa have stood the test of time and what has been done is to adapt the ancients for new narratives, making it contemporary and relevant."
Kavalam's Sanskrit plays have always been well-received in other parts of the country and Ujjain is one place where it receives acclaim. "It was in response to Ashok Vajpayi's enquiry whether I could stage a Sanskrit play in the original at the Kalidas Samaroh that I took it to Ujjain in 1978, and ever since it has been my second home," says Kavalam.
If it was Sanskrit plays that put his productions on the Indian scene, at home, it was a `total theatre,' which had drawn from dance, music, folk forms and Kalaripayattu to shape a new idiom in theatre. Kavalam had found his metier, as it were. Detractors there may have been many, but he continued to pursue the rich traditions of ancient theatre to mould his form. What took form could never fit into the popular format nor had it acquired the formulaic structure. Each was an innovation, be it Shakespeare's `Tempest,' or Kalidasa's `Shakuntalam' or his own `Theyya Theyyam.'
If Kavalam is recognised as one who created a niche for a new kind of performing theatre, he also has delved deep to find the strengths of Sopana Sangeetham which, according to him, cannot be passed off with the simple definition that associates it with `kottippaadi seva.'
Sopana Sangeetham
Kavalam has his reasons for pursuing his search and creating compositions for Mohiniyattom with pure Sopana Sangeetham.
Vallathol and Kalyanikutty Amma had to make do with a limited repertoire while restoring Mohiniyattom because no effort had been made to preserve the oral tradition. He explains further: "Historical reasons had given Mohiniyattom a status subsidiary to Bharatanatyam, which was not justified. Though basically a theatre person, I felt that the Carnatic compositions did not often match the dynamics of Mohiniyattom. It must necessarily have a musical system which was typical of Kerala and that is where Sopana Sangeetham becomes relevant."
Long association with the Sangeet Natak Akademis, both at the Centre and the State, compels one to ask about the contribution of such institutions in preserving art forms that are fading from public memory.
The Akademis, according to Kavalam, currently vice-chairman of the Kendriya Sangeet Natak Akademi, functions as administrative units promoting the arts and knitting the county together. This year, for instance, the focus is on the Northeast.
No interview with Kavalam is complete without a word from him on `cholkazhcha' which became popular in the Seventies. `Cholkazhcha became a kind of addiction," he says. The release of every issue of the literary magazine, Kerala Kavita, edited by the late Ayyappa Panikker, was accompanied by a cholkazcha. Kavyanatakam was how he termed my work. For me, it was an exercise in creating a parallel stream of expression combining the quality of the verse and using a delivery which would create a visual impact."
Kavalam packs into himself the dictum that no art form can be isolated from another, it is a continuum of overlapping, mixtures and adaptations running parallel in distinct locations. Whatever be the words that describe his oeuvre, resonating in his work is the folk rhythm of his native Kuttanad.
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