The bigger picture

A Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi dancer trained in Kerala Kalamandalam, Nimmy Raphel is a performer in every sense; be it with her acting, dancing or music (she’s even a puppeteer!). She is a resident at Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts & Research, a performing arts company not very far from the laid-back art embracing Puducherry. And, she was seen recently in the silver screen acting in the Shoojit Sircar film, October .

“I have done one Tamil film before this with Mysskin and a short film with Santosh Sivan. So it wasn't a new experience. I liked the storyline and the treatment of October , and it's quite different from doing theatre. But I really enjoyed the process a lot. Being on the set and in character for a long time.” When asked about what excited her most about the film, she responded by saying, “Being in a a Shoojit film.”

Indian mythology is an interesting aspect of Raphel’s work. Now, it has become her brand of theatre. She admits that her entry into the world of theatre was a stroke of luck, “It was an accident. I met Veenapani Chawla, the founder of Adishakti. I then came into Adishakti and never left,” says the actress, who began her journey with the company in 2001, when she was just about 18.

She adds, “When I joined the campus near Auroville, there was greenery everywhere. Each and every tree there was planted by Veenapani herself. I went there at a point when Adishakti needed more infrastructure.” Raphel joined the company as a musician working in plays such as

Brihannala , Ganapati and Impressions of Bhima for which she went on to operating the lights after 2008. Her first full-fledged play with the company was The Hare and The Tortoise and Rhinoceros in 2007 after a good six years of training. She says, “There was a lot of back-work that went into it and years of research.”

When asked about whether her intensive training as a dancer adds to her being a theatre performer she says, “I don’t know whether I use the same sensibilities that I do for dancing in my theatrical work right now.But, you can never take away the influences in terms of exploration of the body.”

Bali , a play written and directed by Raphel, has the namesake (the monkey king of Kishkinta from

The Ramayana ) as the protagonist. His death is the main preoccupation of the script.

The play, which was staged in front of a full house of 200 people, is being performed again at Adishakti, Puducherry on May 6.

The bigger picture

Adishakti’s Nimmy Raphel looks back at October, and tells us how her craft on stage has moulded her work on screen

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