It is not often that the judge gets more attention than contestants.
But actor Rachana Narayanankutty, who judged the Kuchipudi competition on the third day of the Calicut University Inter-zone Arts Festival, was swarmed by her fans at the Malabar Christian College here on Wednesday, and she patiently posed for photos with each of them.
Regular participant
“It seemed a homecoming for me, as I was a student of Calicut University and used to participate regularly at arts festivals,” Rachana told The Hindu .
“I was glad when the organisers invited me to judge. Though I had judged at district-level school arts festivals, this was my first time at the university festival,” she said.
Rachana, who shot to fame with the television comedy serial Marimayam , was impressed with some of the performers at the festival. “I was happy to find that most contestants were trying to perform Kuchipudi in the traditional form,” she said.
“Some were really good, though the influence of Bharatanatyam was visible on several occasions. The girl who came first [T.B. Devi Krishna] performed beautifully. She was easily the best,” she added.
Kuchipudi was one of the events that she used to win at university festivals.
Kalathilakam
“I had won the Kalathilakam title in 2003-04 while I was a student of Sree Vyasa NSS College at Wadakkanchery. Besides Kuchipudi, I had won the first prize in folk dance and Mohiniyattom. The competition was a lot tougher those days, and you had bigger crowds too,” she said.
Rachana, who starred in films including Lucky Star , Amen, Punyalan Agarabattis , Puthiya Niyamam, and Kambhoji , is focusing more on Kuchipudi these days. She is currently doing M.A. in Kuchipudi at Alliance University, Bengaluru.
