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actor par excellence: Kalamandalam Balasubramanyan.

“Subramanyan is one of my last disciples who faced the severity of my punishment in the kalari while chiselling the body and the limbs for character enactment. It is, therefore, not surprising that he has grown into an outstanding actor in Kathakali.” This comment by Kalamandalam Gopi is a befitting recognition of the talent and perseverance of Kalamandalam Balasubramanyan.

Since Gopi’s rise to stardom, several younger actors emerged to establish themselves on the Kathakali stage. But many of them except a few like Balasubramanyan failed to create an enduring impression among rasikas.

Balasubramanyan hails from a lower-middle class family in Kothachira village, Palakkad. Incidentally, Gopi also hails from this village. Balasubramanyan’s father, an ardent admirer of Kathakali, was close to eminent Kathakali artistes. This paved the way for his admission to Kerala Kalamandalam.

“Endowed with an impeccable sense of rhythm and a short yet graceful figure, Balasubramanyan was simply the best in his kalari,” recollects Wayne Ashley, a theatre-artiste from New York who had received training in Kathakali at Kalamandalam in the 1970’s. Under Gopi and Ramankutty Nair, Balasubramanyan mastered the techniques of angika and satwikabhinayas. On completion of training with distinction, he soon became a much-sought-after performer. He revelled in the roles of Srikrishna and Srirama. Milena Salvini, an artiste and connoisseur from France, could not think of anyone else but Balasubramanyan in these roles when she repeatedly invited the Kalamandalam Kathakali troupe for staging the Mahabharata and the Ramayana in dance-theatre festivals in Europe.

His effervescence on stage is what distinguishes Balasubramanyan from his peers. In his younger days, he had blindly imitated his guru, Gopi. It took a while for him to realise that such imitation was a disaster not only for the actor but for the characters portrayed by the actor. Gradually, Balasubramanyan recognised his strength and weakness and slowly ensured a comfortable space on the Kathakali stage. Not many know that he was once a brilliant actor of female roles such as the technically demanding Lalithas in various plays and the sentimentally profound characters like Damayanthi.

Later, he was reluctant to don such roles lest he should be segregated from enacting mainstream male characters. In Paccha, Kathi, Vellathadi, Kari and Minukku, Balasubramanyan is incredibly vivacious on stage. His ‘veshappakarcha’ (transformation through make-up and costuming) is enviable.

Balasubramanyan’s preferred mode of expression is emotive acting. He is fond of enacting nayaka roles such as Nala, Bahuka, Rukmangada, Bhima, Dharmaputra, Arjuna, Balabhadra, Raudra Bhima and the like. He has always attempted, with a certain amount of success, to overcome his diminutive figure through an energetic execution of slow, medium and fast kalasams that follow the pallavi, anupallavi and charanams of the padams.

Accuracy in the positioning of mudras, meticulous movements of the limbs in harmony with the moods of the characters and spontaneity of facial expressions have endeared him to the Kathakali aficionados. Usually, actors who specialise in Paccha (green facial make-up that denotes the heroes) roles have been seldom adept at presenting negative characters such as Ravana, Keechaka, Sisupala, Duryodhana and so on. Balasubramanyan is an exception to this rule. His Ravana in ‘Ravanodbhavam’ is testimony to his prowess in the highly disciplined enactment of the character. Although his face is not spacious enough for the bold and intricate lines of the Kathi make-up, the overall appearance compensates for this drawback.

Balasubramanyan’s dedication is not confined to the stage. He is fiercely committed to his students in the Kalari as well. He believes that there is no short cut to learning Kathakali.

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