The artistes who performed ‘Velakali’ at Kozhikode Beach on Tuesday didn’t want to stop even after the allotted one hour. The active and enthusiastic audience inspired them to continue performing for another 45 minutes. “They are performing from their heart,” a member of the audience was heard saying.
These artistes are not used to encouragement from the audience in Kozhikode ever during the previous editions of ‘Utsavam’, the annual folk arts festival organised by the Department of Tourism and the District Tourism Promotion Council. The few viewers who turned up to watch the fiesta at the Sarovaram open-air theatre in the previous years couldn’t inspire them either. But the situation has changed for the better this year and it is not just the change of venue that made the festival popular.
“The department spent around ₹8 lakh in Kozhikode only for the artistes who take part in ‘Utsavam’. It would have been a severe discouragement if the turnout was poor,” said Binoy Venugopal, DTPC Secretary.
The change of venue, however, did wonders. The ever crowded Kozhikode Beach and the newly renovated S.M. Street turned out to be ideal venues for the festival. The floating crowd sometimes take an interest in the programme and sit down to watch it completely. “During the Kakkarissi Natakam performance on Tuesday, people who at first ignored the performance came back to sit down as they were curious why the people around them were laughing so much,” Mr. Binoy said. The accessibility of these two venues compared to Sarovaram was also a plus point to attract people who were genuinely interested in folk arts.
The standard of the programmes was also an added advantage. “This year, there is more variety of programmes and we have taken much effort to ensure quality,” Mr. Binoy said.