The performance of ‘Nalacharitham Naalaam Divasam’, staged in Thiruvananthapuram recently, began with the traditional benedictory quatrain rendered dexterously by Pathiyoor Sankarankutty in his mellifluous voice and diligently supported by Tripunithura Arjun Raj. This was followed by Margi Rathnakaran fingering ennams on the maddalam, stimulating the thud of horse hooves.
This part of the play describes circumstances leading to the reunion of husband and wife, King Nala and Damayanthi, after the King had to abandon his wife in the forest. Nala comes to Damayanthi’s home in the guise of King Rituparna’s charioteer Bahukan.
Margi Vijayakumar’s delineation of Damayanthi, as always, received whole-hearted accolades from rasikas. It left nothing to desire. Whatever techniques of presentation he inherited from his illustrious preceptors such as Mankulam Vishnu Namboodiri and Enchakkattu Ramachandran Pillai, and, above all, from the legendary artiste Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, was perceivable in his acting. Moreover, he took exceptional care to embellish every posture and movement with his own creative imagination. On no occasion did he lose sight of even the subtlest aspect of emotional and gestural acting.
Ettumanoor Kannan’s Bahukan proved a befitting co-actor to Vijayakumar. Nala’s split personality involving his limitless love for Damayanthi on one side and, on the other, his deep rooted doubts about her intentions, a reflection of his jealousy towards King Rituparna, was portrayed convincingly. Kannan’s postures, gestures, kalasams and appropriately imaginative acting were in tune with the character. When Kesini, Damayanthi’s companion, referred to Parnada, he responded by expressing his familiarity with the person by narrating the most obvious physical features of that Brahmin messenger. Damayanthi’s mention of her mother and father prompted him to instantaneously show his respect to them with folded hands.
Kottakkal Rajamohan essayed Kesini, the singularly diplomatic companion of the heroine. On several counts the aesthetics of his acting was not in harmony with that of both Vijayan and Kannan.
The Sankarankutty-Arjun Raj team rendered Unnayi Warrier’s exquisite play-text into sweet sounding music leaving no syllable of any quatrain or song devoid of melodious resonance.
Rathnakaran’s maddalam served the purpose of mridangam, accompanying the music. He kept the rasikas spell bound for one full hour, till Kalamandalam Balasunder’s chenda came to the scene to inject a bit of masculinity into the performance, commencing from Bahuka’s response to Kesini’s query.
The performance was held under the aegis of Drisyavedi, marking the opening of their annual Kerala Rangakalolsavam.
