As a child born into a performing family, Usha Nangiar first started learning Koodiyattam — before branching into Nangiarkoothu — when she was in the sixth standard. When we meet, the performer is almost unassuming about the status she commands in Kerala theatre. Nangiar is in the city as part of the Keli Festival’s 25th anniversary celebrations. Despite her stature, she’s mild-mannered and graceful, patiently explaining the intricacies of the art form.
Koodiyattam is divided into chapters, which are then each termed as Koodiyattams. These are in turn divided into purappadu (dance), nirvahanam (retrospection), and finally the play itself. “This character explains the story on stage as his own story or his swami ’s story,” says Nangiar. Koodiyattam has been performed for more than 1,200 years. Women from the Nambiar community (known as Nangiars) from Kerala perform female parts in Koodiyattam, while the Chakkiars perform male characters, and the Nambiar men are in charge of percussion.
According to Nangiar, in the last 1,000 years, Kerala’s performers have greatly contributed and developed Koodiyattam by honing the purappadu and nirvahanam segments. In Subhadra Dhananjaya , a play written by King Kulasekhara Varman, “Subhadra’s maid recalls her memories of Krishna. That is what Nangiarkoothu is: storytelling,” says Nangiar.
During the ’80s, when the performer was the first female student at the Ammanur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam, Nangiar received the same training as her male counterparts, as did the future female students who joined. However, the girls were restricted to provide taalam (rhythm) for Koodiyattam performances. “At this time, joint families in Kerala were splitting up into nuclear families,” says Nangiar. So the women couldn’t leave their homes to perform at temples for several days. This change in the social structure added to the decline of seeing female characters perform. “I asked my gurus (Gopal Venu and Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar) whether I could perform the male parts,” recalls Nangiar, before adding that their reply was predictably in the negative.
In hindsight, Nangiar is glad with their decision. Especially since it motivated the dancer to find concrete ways to perform onstage as a female character. “Dancers like Kalamandalam Girija tried to promote female characters before me, but those were smaller parts,” says Nangiar, who was told that characters like the Panchakanya (Sita, Ahalya, Draupadi, Tara and Mandodari) couldn’t appear on stage. For instance, in certain Koodiyattam dramas where Sita had a part, a lamp was used instead of a female actor. The reason cited was that it was sacrilegious to bring the Panchakanya to the stage and a deity like Sita wasn’t born from the womb of a human woman.
It was while rewriting ancient production and acting manuals that Nangiar chanced upon evidence that Mandodari was in fact enacted as part of a Koodiyattam centuries ago. It was just the impetus Nangiar needed to reclaim women’s position in the form. By her own admission, Nangiar is not interested in being revolutionary. “I don’t want to do new things,” she says. “We have the space here for women [just] like men, in the art form [Koodiyattam] and society, and I want to reclaim it.” After all, she had also come across actors portraying the character of Maneka from the Ramayana, a heavenly apsara who wasn’t birthed by a human mother. The performer’s efforts eventually paved the way for the Ammanur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam to revive Nangiarkoothu with absolutely no restrictions on bringing female characters to stage.
During the three days of the ongoing Keli Festival, Nangiar has worked on the characters of Draupadi, Ahalya and Lalitha. To this day, the actor looks deep within herself to truly bring the character alive onstage. Although, she has practised the art form for almost 30 years she’s constantly honing her skills. She describes Koodiyattam with the Malayalam word ‘ attakam ’, the substance that holds everything together. And rightly so, since the art form is incredibly structured.
Usha Nangiar’s final performance at the ongoing Keli festival will be held today at Terna Auditorium, Nerul, at 7 p.m. Free entry passes can be collected at Prithvi Theatre, Y.B. Chavan Centre, Giri Stores (Matunga), Maharashtra Watch Company (Dadar West) and Deluxe Hotel (Fort).
