It is always heartening to see that an art form like Kathakali
crosses its geographical as well as linguistic boundaries. It is generally
assumed that learning a complexly structured art form like Kathakali will be a herculean task for a
person coming from a different cultural background. As this is the scenario, we
must appreciate people who come from a different background learning and
performing this art form.
Mr. Prabal Gupta who hails from Culcutta is one among them.We
happened to watch Mr.Prabal Gupta’s Kathakali performance last week at
Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan,Mylapore, Chennai.At the outset, we would like to
congratulate Mr. Prabal for taking such a strenuous effort to learn this art
form and performing in front of an august audience.And the credit goes to his
Gurus as well.He performed ‘thodayam’, one shiva sthuthi and Narakasuravadham
Lalitha’s ‘Saari padam’ (yamini chara manini) followed by the ‘padam’ ‘Vruthra
Vairi Nandana’ .Considering the background, lack of experience and inadequacy of traditional style of intense training, the performance was appreciable.
He was able to show the ‘mudras’ pertinently which is commendable taking the
linguistic barriers into account. He tried his level best to express the seductive
emotions of Lalitha and was successful in maintaining the rhythm also. As a
whole he succeeded in creating an ambience of Kathakali.
At the same time, considering the well-structured form of
this art which requires rigorous training of so many years, we, as
‘rasikas’, have got lot of apprehensions
. From the performance, we could assess that he is in the nascent stage of
acting career.His ‘mudras’ do not have the required beauty and perfection (
‘absence of proper ‘vayu’) which demands more hard work .For instance, when he showed
the ‘mudra’ for moon, his fingers were pointed towards different directions and
moved asymmetrically which spoiled the beauty.
While doing the role of Lalitha, he applied excessive force for the steps which
seemed inappropriate for a female ‘minukku’ character.Kathakali actor’s first
and foremost focus must be on the utilization of space on the stage which he
has to improve considerably( His website says he has published a paper on the
utilization of space on the stage. Now he should try to convert this
theoretical knowledge into practical one). When he utilized the entire stage
for ‘saari’ dance, it resulted in ruining the structural beauty of this art
form itself. On top of it; he failed miserably in keeping the costumes intact
while performing. And the last but not the least, he always performs with the
support of recorded music which denies
him his most precious asset; ‘monodharma’.It is always advisable to perform
with the musicians and percussionists on the stage which will ultimately enhance
his performance.
When you read the above criticism, you may feel whether it is
that grave as far as a beginner is concerned. But seeing the objective, claims about his talent and
accomplishments mentioned in Mr.Prabal’s website
(kathakaliprabal.com) this sub-standard performance is worrisome. On contrary,
we are afraid that by looking at his growth over these years, he hasn’t
realized about his shortcomings as a Kathakali actor nor having serious
dedication and commitment to rectify his mistakes. Right from the beginning, he
has been doing solo performances taking up roles like ‘Narakasuravadham
Lalitha’ which he is not matured enough to perform. Narakasura Vadham ‘Lalitha’ is
quite a challenging role even for established actors. One has to do a lot of
smaller roles with established artists to reach there and Mr Prabal is no
exception. It will be a great learning experience for him if he enacts
small roles with well trained artists to come out of his half-baked talent. If
not, he will be doing injustice towards this great art form. Either Prabal
himself or his Gurus should realize this truth and is the responsibility of his
Gurus to instruct him not to take the short cut method but to learn properly and
move up the ladder of success gradually. If not, he will be a bad example for
posterity to understand how an art form can be misused for the vested interest
of an indivual.We hope, Mr.Prabal will
take this criticism positively
and serve this great art form with the due respect. We once again congratulate
Prabal for the attempt and wish him all the best!!!
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