“She studied journalism but she has become an air hostess,” says the father in bemused fashion. The remark might be taken as a normal middle class parental reaction to a daughter’s unpredictable interests. Meanwhile, his son has just joined an IT firm, among the most popular career paths today. Their father — currently working in the office of the Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, and a cryptographer by training whose parent organisation is the CRPF — is proud of them both. But the Raman Kuttys are not your average Delhi family.
The father, Kalamandalam N. Raman Kutty, is an accomplished Kathakali performer. His twins, Ramya and Rajish, trained by their father as well as at New Delh’s International Centre for Kathakali, are performers in their own right and have toured with him to several countries as well as cultural centres of India. If Raman Kutty has one slight regret, it is that, due to their jobs, neither Ramya nor Rajish will performing with him this time in the Kathakali presentation of “Seetha Swayamvaram” he is directing as part of the ongoing International Ramayana Festival in New Delhi.
But he is practical, saying livelihood is important. In the Capital for the past 22 years, Raman Kutty trained at the Kerala Kalamandalam since the age of 13. “At that time you had to join after class 7, otherwise they wouldn’t take you,” he explains. This was because a young body was preferred to mould and adapt to the flexibility and strengthening exercises along with massage that are indispensable to Kathakali.
After six years of diploma and two years of post-diploma studies, he received a Central Government scholarship. “At that time I got this job offer, so I left the scholarship in the middle.”
Back in the mid-1980s earning opportunities for Kathakali artists were few, notes Raman Kutty. Today, with tourism and other agencies having stepped in, there are perhaps greater chances to survive as a full-time artist, but he has no regrets. Having studied at Kalamandalam when it was run in the traditional gurukul fashion — now it is a deemed university with academic emphasis as well — he reflects with satisfaction on the great gurus who trained him: Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Kalamandalam Gopi, MPS Nambuthiri, Kalamandalam Vasu Pisharody and Kalamandalam Vijayakumar. All are Sangeet Natak Akademi Award recipients, while the first also received the Padma Bhushan. It is their rigorous moulding that helps him tide over limited rehearsal time today, he says.
If his need to earn sent him on a parallel path, it was this same lack of finances that allowed him to pursue the art in the first place. Raman Kutty says his mother, late Neettumthadathil Kunchi Lakshmi Amma, and his father, late Pottekkattu Bala Krishna Panicker of Palakkad, were not artists, but they did not object to his immersing himself at Kalamandalam because it at least represented a career path.
That Raman Kutty has maintained his form and his performances despite demanding assignments in the security forces is praiseworthy, but what is particularly noteworthy is that he has managed to keep up with an art like Kathakali, a theatre as opposed to a solo form that needs some institutional support. The costumes are difficult to make, the highly stylised and codified make-up requires much training, and the entire wardrobe paraphernalia demands space and maintenance. In performances, the costume and make-up expert, or chutti artists are the lifeline of the Kathakali actors. Here, Raman Kutty’s wife Rajani has stepped in quite miraculously.
“The children and I are all performers. So she learnt chutti,” he explains, as Rajani beams amiably. “Her guru is Kalamandalam Kunhikrishnan (who retired from the International Centre for Kathakali not long back). The creditable thing is, she joined in 2007, and by 2008 when we went on a tour of Europe, she handled the chutti for seven veshams (character types) all by herself.”
Prior to learning chutti, Rajani had not trained in Kathakali or classical dances of Kerala. She was interested in painting, though, and her skilled hands serve her well in the detailed work. She has also stitched several sets of costumes that the family keeps carefully. “She made these along with my guru in Kerala,” explains Raman Kutty. Since Kathakali is based on the concept of character types, in which similar costumes and make-up codes are used for a range of characters (such as, for example, noble princes, evil kings, forest dwellers, or special characters like Hanuman, Jatayu, etc.), the Raman Kuttys manage with the costumes they own. They specialise in episodes from the Ramayana.
The orchestra usually comes from Kerala, as also some of the actors. This time, siblings Gopika S. Gopan and Gokul S. Gopan, trained at the ICK as well as under Raman Kutty will also perform, as King Janaka and King Dasharatha respectively. The other characters in the episode to be performed at the festival are Rama (Kalamandalam Raman Kutty), Sita (Suguna Sree Kumar), Lakshmana (Kalamandalam Radha Krishnan), Vishwamitra (Kalamandalam Kalluvazhi Vasu) and Parashurama (Thiruvattar Jagadeshan of the ICK). The orchestra will comprise Sadanam Radha Krishnan and Kalamandalam Sree Kumar (vocal), Kalamandalam Sree Kumar (chenda), and Sadanam Krishnadas (maddalam). Chutti will be handled by, besides Rajani Raman Kutty, Kalamandalam Satish Kumar, while Muralidharan is the designated greenroom artist.
Ficci auditorium, February 27, 6.30 p.m
