The third part of Unnayi Warrier’s Kathakali play delineates King Nala’s plight after he abandoned his beloved Damayanti in the dense forest, while she was fast asleep.
Staging of the third ‘day’ of ‘Nalacharitam’ commenced with the transformation of the so–called ‘White Nala’ into ‘Black Nala’ or Bahuka, consequent on his being bitten by Karkotaka, a serpent that is Lord Siva’s ornament, whom Nala rescued from a wild fire. Even within the precious little time allotted, Kalamandalam Shanmughan, who enacted ‘White Nala’, showed his mettle, by taking care not to leave the divine serpent in the wild fire itself before getting his response to Nala's queries beginning with ‘Who are you, caught in the raging wild fire?’ Instead, Nala offered him a seat to rest.
Excellence in Mukhaabhinaya
Kalamandalam Gopi’s Bahuka was avowedly the main attraction of the performance and he did justice to the role through his precise and mind-revealing mukhaabhinaya (acting that focuses on facial movements) crowned almost every time with dexterous eye movements. Details of a deer’s labour and its safe delivery of a couple of young ones in spite of several formidable obstacles, exhibited as ever, the veteran actor’s astonishing skill in pakarnnaattam (transformational acting).
The ‘chittayattam’ (conventional acting) has come down through generations of ace actors in the pachcha (green) make-up. But there is little or no manodharma attam (imaginative acting) in it and, when not interlinked suitably to the textual context in question, inevitably it slips into impropriety and repetition sans creativity.
After enacting the concerned scene, the celebrated Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair’s Bahuka used to console himself with the thought that his beloved Damayanti and their two kids would certainly be protected by the timely interference of the Almighty as in the case of the helpless deer and her offspring. Till the ‘dhanaasi’ (final benediction) all eyes were mostly on the maestro’s expressive face.
Captivating Sudeva
Margi Vijayakumar’s Sudeva was captivating. Eschewing all the feminine features that invariably inject splendour and liveliness into his major female characters, Vijayakumar took the audience by surprise with his superb handling of Sudeva’s role.
The details he brought in while visualising the suitor-kings’ entourage with drums and bugles were subtle but powerful. Above all, he successfully exploited all the possibilities of putting his shoulder cloth ( melppudava ) to effective use on several occasions, aesthetically interpreting the single reference to it by the playwright even though the concerned ‘charanam’ was omitted in singing.
Kalamandalam Shanmughan reappeared on the stage as Rithuparna and came out with flying colours.Kalamandalam R. Nair’s Karkotaka, Kalamandalam Mukundan’s Damayanti and Jeevala and Varsheya, enacted respectively by Kalamandalam Sudeep and Kalamandalam Vipin, contributed significantly to the overall success of the play. Pathiyoor Sankarankutty, assisted ably by Kalanilayam Rajiv and Tripunithura Arjun Raj, rendered the lyrics melodiously and evocatively. The rendition of the padam ‘Aval ethoru kamini’ (Who is that damsel?) in Vrindaaana saaramgam was singularly enjoyable.
It is a pity that the two exquisite quatrains and padams (‘Lokapaalanmaare’ and ‘Ghoravipinam ennaal…’) of the White Nala could not be presented on account of paucity of time.
Kalamandalam Krishnadas on the chenda and Margi Rathnakaran and Sreekandeswaram Mohanachandran on the maddalam followed even the subtle rise and ebb of emotions in the mind of the characters.
The play was staged under the aegis of Drisyavedi.
