Tales of valour and romance
B. HARIHARAN
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Select portions of ‘Utharaswayamvaram’ and ‘Narakasuravadham’ were staged in the capital city.
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Earthy story: A scene from ‘Narakasuravadham.’
Irayimman Thampi’s ‘Utharaswayamvaram’ was staged again at the Margi Natyagruham, Thiruvananthapuram, in three instalments, as part of their monthly programme. Uthara had to wait for her swayamavaram for almost a month; the first tw
o parts enacted in September reached its logical conclusion in October.
The third part involving Duryodhana, Karna, Brihannala, Utharan, Kripa and Bheeshma stood out for the way in which it took the audience through a spectrum of emotions that ranged from pride to humour.
The two parts that were staged earlier depicted the Pandavas living incognito in the court of King Virata after spending 12 years in the forest.
The third part portrays the battle between Utharan and the Kauravas with Utharan defeating the Kauravas with the help of Brihannala, who is actually Arjuna in disguise. The sarcastic Kripa presented a different facet of Margi Vijayakumar who had rendered a memorable presentation of Sairandhri in the second part.
After the Kauravas were defeated, there was a subtle moment when Utharan removes the ornaments and garments of Duryodhana and Karna, and proceeds to lay his hands on Kripa and Bheeshma. Margi Ratheesan Pillai’s Brihannala stops him from doing this with a slight but expressive gesture of his body. This was a high point in the performance, reinforcing Arjuna’s esteem and respect for his elders.
On the other hand, Duryodhana and Karna are not spared. Duryodhana manages to find a piece of cloth to cover himself while Margi Harivalsan’s Karna is forced to run for cover after he finds his clothes missing.
The first scene of ‘Narakasuravadham,’ performed a day after the last part of ‘Utharaswayamvaram,’ transformed the Natyagruha into a forest in which Margi Suresh’s Nakratundi revelled in all her earthiness.
Emphasis on movements
The kari vesham stood out for its emphasis on body movements and hand gestures. Jayanthan’s refusal to be seduced by Lalita’s charms is the highlight of the scenes that follow. But this particular sequence did not carry the bhava to its aesthetic state partly because Margi Harivalsan did not give full expression to Lalitha’s yearning for Jayanthan. The re-entry of Nakratundi in the last scene carried the day as she roared in agony as Jayanthan mutilates her. Inchakkattu Ramachandran Pillai, Harivalsan, Ravikumar, Sukumaran, Peethambaran, Suresh, Balasubramanian, Ratheesan, and Vijayakumar performed to songs by Krishnankutty, Rajeev, Nandakumar, Damu and Mohanan. While Krishnadas, Krishnakumar and Venugopal played the chenda, Ravindran, Baby and Ratnakaran played the maddalam.
These performances underlined the importance of stage exposure for artistes and the opportunities it provide for them. The packed audience on both the days suggests better times for Kathakali evenings in the capital city.
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