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Going SOLO

Photos : S. Gopakumar

Picture of confidence Kani says she feels at home in the world of theatre

Kani’s eyes sparkle and a vivacious 1,000-watt grin lights up her face. So when Kani walks into Café Coffee Day on a cloudy morning, she lights up the place with her sunny smile and attitude. The non-starry air about her did not stop peopl e from taking a closer look to see if she was a star or a television hostess. But the dusky youngster, completely unaware of the stir she creates, poses for the camera, checks out her photographs and keeps talking nineteen to the dozen about everything under the sun. It is the same infectious enthusiasm, gamine looks and charm that make Kani a favourite of contemporary theatre directors in Kerala like M.G. Jyothish, C.S. Deepan, Abhilash Pillai and Surjith. The 25-year-old’s oeuvre includes plays such as ‘Siddartha,’ ‘Kamala,’ ‘Bhagavadajjukam,’ ‘Khasakente Itihaasam’ and the recently staged ‘Pachcha.’ She was also seen in Vipin Vijay’s national award-winning short film ‘Poomaram’ and in a role opposite Prithviraj in ‘Kerala Café.’

Just back from The International Theatre School of Jacques Lecoq in Paris, Kani still can’t stop talking about her one-year stint at the school. Teaching methods in the School, she says, “have changed her outlook towards theatre.”

“I enjoy movement and the style practised in the School was exactly what I had in mind. Dialogues are minimal and the dynamics of movements are studied and taken to another level. We had to keep improvising and express characters, situations and ideas through our movements.

“Masks, right from big ones that completely cover the face to the short red nose worn by clowns, are used liberally to make us observe, explore and use movements to portray in the later stages of the course. Some of the ideas and concepts were similar to what we have in Koodiyattam. But they pare concepts and movements to an abstract level. For instance, they ask us to emulate fire; then they make us wonder how it would be if we were the fire ourselves…. ,” explains Kani who also did a course in stage design at the same school.

Although the actor almost grew up with the Thiruvananthapuram-based Abhinaya Theatre group, she says she was never sure if it was theatre that she really wanted to pursue till she completed a three-month workshop in the Bangalore-based Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts. “I have always enjoyed dance and movement. The workshop had both, yet I felt something was missing. That was when I realised that it was theatre that enthused me,” explains Kani.

It was on Abhilash’s advice that Kani joined the School in Paris after she dropped out from the School of Drama in Thrissur.

“I was into theatre right from my school days thanks to a teacher called Chandrika who taught us Sanskrit at Government School for Girls, Pattom. She insisted that all of us participate in some cultural activity or the other. Since many of us were studying Sanskrit, we staged plays such as ‘Shakunthalam’ and Kavalam Narayana Pannikar’s ‘Karnabharam’ and won a few prizes in the youth festivals too,” recalls Kani.

However, she remembers being an inhibited teenager who was not really comfortable on the stage. So, despite her interest in theatre, she decided to trod the beaten path and take up a job after her graduation. But that is when mediaperson and theatre enthusiast Vidhu Vincent encouraged her to act in ‘Bhagavadajjukam.’ Eventually the shy teenager began to find her own space on the stage and blossom as an actor. Anamika Haskar’s workshop, organised by the feminist theatre group Neeriksha, got her involved with the production of Maxim Gorky’s ‘Mother’ while Deepan’s workshop in connection with the adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s famous play ‘Kamala’ gave her the opportunity to participate in an acting workshop where she was “able to delve into myself.”

“It made me look inwards and I realised that all my life, till then, I had tried to fit into the mould of a “good girl.” I was always trying to live up to an image that others expected of me,” says Kani.

The only daughter of activists Maitreyan and Jayasree, Kani says she counts herself lucky to have parents who have always given her the freedom to choose her own space to work and to live. “Sometimes that is a problem. Unlike other youngsters, I cannot blame my parents or crib about how they stopped me from doing this or that. Maitreyan (that is what she calls her father) and chechi (and, yes, that is her mother!) have never forced me to do something. In fact, my mother says it is all right to try and fail,” says Kani.

Candid and outspoken Kani admits that she wonders if theatre alone would pay her bills. “That is why I also take up assignments in cinema although I have my doubts about my prowess as a film actor. Acting in Vipin’s film was an interesting experience but I am very self-critical when I see myself on screen.” And her favourite film stars. “Bharat Gopi, KPAC Lalitha and Manju Warrier,” she says. And then adds: “Oh, I also like Jagathy Sreekumar too.”

And the future… “On top of the agenda is a short vacation in Kannur where my grandmother lives and then I would like to complete my graduation. So far, the lack of a degree has never stopped me from doing something that I want to pursue in life. But tomorrow what if that becomes a stumbling block. So I would like to complete that some day,” says Kani. And in January 2010, she plans to be back on the stage with ‘Pachcha.’

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