In Kalluvazhi system, the teacher often instructs the trainee to confine to ‘paravattam’. In other words, the actor should try, as far as possible, to be mostly on the centre of the stage, well lit by the ‘lamp for acting’ (attavilakku).
Veteran actor Nelliyodu Vasudevan Namboothiri seemed to follow the dictum strictly in the opening scene of ‘Kuchelavritham’, while delineating Kuchela’s solitary journey to Dwaraka to meet Lord Krishna. Without even slightly moving his feet forward, simply by means of pleasant, rhythmic bodily movements, he created the illusion of traversing the long distance from Kuchela’s humble hut to the Lord’s palace.
Holding his walking stick and his old palm leaf umbrella with his left arm, he convincingly delineated the general sense of the soliloquising song (‘vicharappadam’), with gestures employing just his right hand, even in contexts requiring compound hand gestures (‘samyutha’) to be shown with both hands.
As always, Nelliyodu’s Kuchela excelled in emotive acting, which left nothing to be desired in bringing out the literal as well as suggestive meaning of the play text.
His presentation brought out quite clearly the most dominant trait in the character, namely incomparable humility crowned with deep-rooted devotion that leads to self-effacing surrender at the feet of the Lord. His response to Lakshmi’s insistence that he should stay with them for at least one day was convincing and presented in good humour. Finally describing Krishna as the confluence of all the incarnations of Vishnu, he performed a brief ‘jalaadijalaantha pooja’ (worship starting and ending with the offering of water), the flowers used for which he claimed for himself, for adorning his own head. Discerning rasikas appreciated that wonderful merger of the worshiper, the worshipped and the act of worshipping.
Kalamandalam Balasubrahmanyan and Margi Vijayakumar stole the hearts of the connoisseurs, presenting even the subtlest nuances of Krishna and Lakshmi. Tears of love and nostalgia filled Krishna’s eyes on espying his old friend at the gate of his palace. His running down the stairs to welcome the venerable guest; escorting the wonderstruck Brahmin and offering him a pooja befitting one’s favourite god; reminiscing with him their days in the ashram of Sage Sandipani; Krishna’s enquiries about his family; his snatching from Kuchela the small packet of aval (flattened fried rice) and eating a handful at once and being prevented by his consort from having another scoop; Krishna’s explanation to his wife on his uncontrolled behaviour; and showering his choicest blessing on his companion and his family… All these scenes presented by the gifted actors made the performance pleasant to watch throughout.
Pathiyoor Sankarankutty, supported by Kalanilayam Sinu, rendered the play text to pleasant music without the slightest blemish. The padam ‘Kalayami sumathe,’ which began, as usual in Sankarabharanam, blossomed into a garland of the following ragas: Saramathi, Vasantha, Athana and Shanmughapriya. When Kuchela expresses his gratification in being exalted to that unimaginable height of the Lord’s palace (‘Pokkamerum saudhametti’) Sankarankutty’s mellifluous voice also rose to the highest possible pitch. Margi Venugopal on the chenda and Sreekandeswaram Mohanachandran on the maddalam complemented each other.
The performance was organised by Drisyavedi.
