The story of Ekalavya has been told and retold many times, but what makes this mythological character and his life interesting is the mystery that shrouds him and the way that is presented. A three-hour long (which is now cut to two-and-a-half-hour, on request) Kathakali play titled Ekalavyan is all set to take us back to the pages of history and watch the life of Ekalavya unfold on stage, presented by some talented Kathakali artistes from Sadanam Kathakali Academy, Palakkad (Kerala).
Sadanam Harikumar, who has choreographed this piece, shares, “As a guru dakshina, Ekalavya, known as a brilliant archer, had offered his thumb to his guru Drona, on the guru’s demand. Apart from depicting Ekalavya’s story, I have also added my own interpretations, especially towards the climax. The play ends with a duel between Krishna and Ekalavya, where the latter is shot by Krishna’s arrow,” says Harikumar, who is also going to be the lead vocalist for this performance.
Through the nuances of Kathakali, every emotion, ranging from devotion, eagerness, love, anger, dejection and disappointment, is aptly portrayed by Kottakkal Nandakumar (Drona), Saranam Mohan (Arjuna), Kalamandalam Neera (Ekalavya), and Kalamandalam Praveen (Krishna).
Ekalavyan begins with Ekalavya approaching Drona, who is teaching Arjuna the art of archery. Ekalavya requests Drona to teach him too, but he rejects him and continues teaching Arjuna. A dejected Ekalavya walks away… As the story progresses, Ekalavya offers his thumb to Drona, and also requests him to allow him to have a duel with Arjuna to prove that he is better than anyone else even without a thumb. The only goal of Ekalavya is to prove that he is Drona’s best student and is also the best archer. Drona tells him to fight Krishna first, and thus ensues a battle. A reluctant Krishna tries to dissuade Ekalavya from the fight but all in vain.
“All of this is written in the Mahabharata, but through this play, and especially through the end that sees Ekalavya die, the message I am trying to convey is that we should not focus just on being ‘one’ brilliant self, rather we should be humble enough to be able to work along with others. Ekalavya’s nemesis was his obsession with being the best. Blinded, he couldn’t see that neither Arjuna, nor Krishna, in fact not even Drona, were his enemies, rather his own perceived pride of being the best,” Harikumar explains.
We ask him what are the challenges of performing a three-hour-long Kathakali, with heavy costumes and make-up. “We are used to the duration and costumes. So, that’s not challenging at all,” he says, adding, “Kathakali has changed over the years, but I feel that it should be more adaptive, receptive of and open to new narratives in sync with the changing times.”
However, talking about a possibility of a fusion between Kathakali and contemporary music, Harikumar says, he isn’t “keen” on that. “I personally am not interested in such fusion because I feel keeping the identity of an art form is important. Of course, you can try many things within the gamut of Kathakali, like new movements, approaches, narratives, but without changing the grammar. Let me explain it with the example of cricket. We now have many formats other than Test cricket, like ODI, T20, but the rules have remained the same. It should be same with Kathakali,” the artiste says.
Free entry.
March 2, 5:30 pm & March 3, 10 am.
At the TEACH Auditorium,
SPASTN, Taramani.
Email: rupam@newindianexpress.com
X: @rupsjain
