One summer night, four months ago, a packed house at Town Hall in Kozhikode gave a standing ovation to the cast and crew of ‘Nellu,' the theatrical adaptation of P. Valsala's celebrated novel of the same name, which was performed by Pookkad Kalalayam.
As much as the quality of production what stood out was the brilliant cast, and among them was Jaya Noushad, who shone particularly bright as Mara, a tribal girl who goes through myriad travails. It was a performance one could not have ignored, and perhaps the jury for this year's Sangeeta Nataka Akademi award also felt the same for they gave Jaya the award for the best actress.
“It was the happiest moment of my life. It is the most prestigious award for a theatre artiste in Kerala and I too had wanted to win it one day, but this one was totally unexpected. After all ‘Nellu' is only my second professional play. Besides, I was competing against several seasoned artistes,” says Jaya, whose husband, Noushad, won the Akademi's award for best actor in 2009. He had played the lead role in ‘Nellu' along with his wife.
Plethora of awards
‘Nellu' actually swept the awards – it won six, including the one for best drama. “Hearing that made me happy for all of us had worked really hard on the play.” The artiste says that she prepared for her role by reading the novel several times over. “By reading the play I got a clearer picture of Mara, how she behaves, dresses and does her make-up. It was a challenging assignment, but I absolutely enjoyed playing Mara on every one of the 87 stages that we performed ‘Nellu,'” she says.
The audience response for the play was also quite overwhelming, she says. “I think the audience loved ‘Nellu' because it offered something different visually. The backdrop of Wayanad and its forests certainly added to the charm of the play,” says the artiste who has been a regular on the stage from her school days.
“I grew up in a village called Kinalur (Kozhikode district), where electricity came just over a decade ago. I never missed an opportunity to go on the stage. I was actively involved in amateur theatre and also did a lot of Kathaprasangams,” she says, adding that she is in the profession for the love of theatre.
“It is almost impossible to make a living as a theatre actor in Kerala for the pay is quite low even for the best of actors. And it's not like we can demand more from the drama companies, for they themselves get a pittance for each performance,” rues Jaya.
“It's a situation that needs to change in Kerala for it is a question of the very survival of theatre in the State. Only then will more and more youngsters get involved in theatre,” she adds.
