Unni Warrier’s play “Nala Charitham” is perhaps the greatest work in the Kathakali pantheon of plays. Even given the fact that today Kathakali by professional troupes has become a feature that Kalakshetrans frequently enjoy, the staging of “Nala Charitham” during Kalakshetra’s festival by a troupe of experts from Kalamandalam led by the inimitable Kalamandalam Gopi as Nala must be considered a rare event, that all aficionados of the art form would treasure. Unfortunately, with the play ending past midnight, the better part of the post-interval session after 10 p.m. was missed by all excepting the Kalakshetrans. In future it would be of great help to all lovers of Kathakali if one could start at 3-30p.m of a Sunday and end at about 9-30 p.m.
Sringar in Kathakali has its finest representation in the Nala/Damayanti opening scene, and Kalamandalam Gopi was in crying form in the Padam “Kuvalaya vilojanay” when Nala addresses Damayanti as the one with eyes like a Blue Lotus. Enraptured with this daughter of the great Bhima, now at the cusp of womanhood, Nala thrills with delight at the curve of her lips like tender leaves. He is immersed in her beauty, adorned also with good character and conduct. Fluttering curls, quivering lips, and Lotus eyes, Nala compares Damayanti’s loveliness with Nature, addressing her with all the epithets of endearment “Induvadane,” “Bale,” “Charusheele” and “Bhaumi”- and invariably finds Nature paling in comparison to such peerless beauty.
The rendition in oh-so-slow vilambit tempo, meandering in savoured joy round Nala’s total immersion in his love, is a scene which has always brought out the best in Kalamandalam Gopi. Every nerve ending seems to quiver with feeling in his abhinaya which evokes goose pimples in the one watching. This enactment would not have had half the potency without the chauka kala singing by Kottakkal Madhu, Kalamandalam Babu Namboodiri and Nedumbally Ram Mohan. The slow honeyed swirls of Thodi will long remain in mind. It was music and abhinaya of rare vintage, piercingly emotive and providing gut wrenching melody. And in the fractional intervals between beats the Chenda and Maddlam effects added rich punctuation. What a delightful Damayanti in Margi Vijayakumar whose stree vesham has a stillness and minimalism. The character is standing motionless for half an hour taking in Nala’s description of her, very much part of the scene without ever being intrusive in appearance. This art of just being, in Kathakali enactment requires years of internalised quietude. The interaction between the two lovers with Damayanti describing the beauties of the garden, with interjections of gestures from Nala suggesting that nothing can rival her beauty, and Nala going back to the past of the Hamsa bringing him news of Damayanti and her virtues and how he had become ensnared by the description of her by the swan, is one of the treasured scenes of great poetic richness in Kathakali.
Totally contrasting is the next scene with Kali and Dwapara whose plans of attending the wedding of Nala/Damayanti are shattered by Indra informing them that the pair is already wed. Unable to bear the deprivation, Kali, the personification of evil, plots revenge. Waiting outside Nala’s palace endlessly for an entry, Kali realises that twelve years have gone by and Nala/Damayanti now in wedded bliss are blessed with two children, without his being able to gain entry to possess Nala’s body, for Nala does no wrong.
Enthused by the sight of a Brahmin who has cut off his thread ceremony and a cow being slaughtered, he senses the window of an opportunity only to realise that for one it marks entering the life of an ascetic and for the other the slaughter is for a Yagna, with no evil attached to either deed. At last, on Nala’s missing washing the back of his heels after ablution, Kali gets his opportunity. Kalamandalam Ramachandran Unnithan as Kali was resplendent, his sahitya-less narrative enactment, full of communicative power! Here Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan and Sadanam Ramakrishnan on the Chenda, and Maddalam by Kottakkal Ravi and Sadanam Devadas provide percussion text, which creates the mood.
Altogether a treat where sophistication of acting, of percussion and of singing came together in a rich tapestry! One is sorry to have missed out on the second half.
