Dance for the divine

At 34, Kapila Venu is an exponent – well-known among the younger generation of performers – of Koodiyattam, a form of Sanskrit theatre that goes back 2,000 years.

At a rare performance in the capital recently – compared to Kathakali or Mohiniattam, Koodiyattam performances are infrequent – Venu charmed audiences with her recital of Adi Shankara's Saundarya Lahari on the marriage of Shiva and Parvati. It was choreographed by her father, the well-known Koodiyattam practitioner, G Venu.

Koodiyattam, enacted only inside temples till the 1950s, still retains many ritualistic elements. For instance, in the thalayil kettuka ritual, performed before applying make-up, a red ribbon is tied around the performer's forehead while praying to invoke gods, gurus and ancestors.

Make-up, an essential component of Koodiyattam, takes almost three hours. "It is meant to enhance the actor's gestures and movements to have the best effect on the audience, and not give a realistic image of the character," she says.

The red eyes, so striking in a Koodiyattam dancer, are the result of chundapoo that is applied under the lower eyelid before a performance. "No role in Koodiyattam, except that of a clown, is performed without chundapoo. It is the ovary of a flower from the eggplant family that reddens the eye to make it more expressive," says the recipient of the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar and the Sanskriti award.

Venu learnt Koodiyattam from her father and Mohiniattam from her mother Nirmala Paniker, a well-known exponent of the form, before she settled for Koodiyattam. "It has a lot to do with how much in awe I was of my Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar," she says. At five, she began visiting Guru Ammannur to learn Kannusadhakam (eye training) but was formally initiated only when she turned seven.

While initially Koodiyattam enacted plays by Bhasa and scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, performers today have expanded their repertoire to playwrights like Shakespeare for wider appeal. Venu herself is working on such an adaptation. "I'm adapting Tagore's Chitrangada, the story of princess Chitrangada who was born a woman but raised a man. I want to imbibe her turmoils, strength and beauty," says the artiste, who prefers women-centric themes.

Decades of riyaaz have taught her to uphold discipline. "You need to maintain your body, mind, health, stamina and creativity," says the mother of a two-year-old son who ensures she spends at least two hours a day rehearsing. But it's hard. "I believe in attachment parenting and therefore take him along wherever I go for my performances. It is not easy but I want to do it," adds Venu.