Thouryathrikam - Promotional Video

As an art form Kathakali combines dance, music and rhythm. Also painting, sculpture and embroidery constitute the integrity of Kathakali. As the world knows, Kathakali is Kerala’s unique art form. It seems mandatory nowadays to show a Kathakali-make- up-face wherever Kerala features. But the disturbing fact is that most Malayalees don’t take the art form seriously. They don’t even try to watch it. As a matter of fact, the chances to view Kathakali performances are rare too.

‘തൗര്യത്രിക’ത്തെക്കുറിച്ച് മലയാളത്തില്‍ വായിക്കുവാന്‍ ഇവിടെ നോക്കുക.

Watch the video in YouTube HERE.

There are a few who view Kathakali performance attracted to it by its costumes, music or rhythm. But most of them take no effort to feel Kathakali in a serious way. There is a major reason to it. People don’t seem to understand the language of Kathakali. Unlike cinema, dance, theater or music one cannot easily digest the nuances of Kathakali straight away. It requires some kind of participation from the part of audience. Here, through this documentary 'Thouryathrikam', we make a sincere effort to lead the ignorant but enthusiastic Kathakali viewer to the door steps of this exotic art form of Kerala.

The documentary has been planned and executed in order to make the understanding of the art form much easier. For example if some one wants to learn a new language, he/she has to begin with the alphabets, then words, and then sentence structures and so on. Similarly Kathakali demands a systematic training from the part of the viewer. 'Thouryathrikam' tries to do exactly that. A Kathakali learner must start with the alphabets typical to the art form called 'Artha Mudras'. There are twenty four 'Artha Mudras' or Meaningful Signs. These basic 'Mudras' combine to form words which are categorized into four- 'Samyutham', 'Asamyutham', 'Misram' and 'Samanam'. 'Artha Mudras' are fused artistically along with dance to form 'Padams' which are similar to the sentences in a language. This is the peripheral structure of Kathakali. Along with all these, embellishments and improvisations from the part of the artists come to life according to the situations. 'Thouryathrikam' presents before you the basics of such a complex and grand art form as simplistically as possible.

Along with the presentation of the fundamentals of understanding Kathakali, we make a humble attempt to trace some history- the past, present and future of the art form. You will see a panoramic view of the characters often presented; the costumes; the make-up; the ornaments; the musical instruments accompanied; the 'Ragas' or the music scales often used; the rhythmic beats and similar technical details in this documentary. We demonstrate the traditional structure of presentation of the art form which begins with the 'Sandhyakkeli' or invitation, the lighting of the Kathakali lamp, the beating of the drum called 'Suddhamadhalam', 'Thodayam', 'Purappad' or invocation, 'Melappadam', story unfolding, to the end with singing the 'Dhanasi'.

The documentary was shot on 2009 January 9th and 10th at Thiruvananthapuram. Post-production works are still going on. The multimedia CDs and DVDs containing detailed demonstrations are being prepared both in Malayalam and English, taking the foreign and native art lovers into account.

Artists

Vesham: Kalamandalam Ramachandran Unnithan, Kalamandalam Vijayakumar, Kalamandalam Hari R. Nair, Kalamandalam Shanmukhadas, Madhu Varanasi, Kalamandalam Sucheendran, Kalamandalam Arun Varier, Kasinathan, Arun Rameshan, Chinosh Balan
Vocal: Pathiyur Sankarankutty, Kalamandalam Harish Nampoothiri, Kalanilayam Rajeevan
Chenda: Kalamandalam Krishnadas, Margi Venugopal
Maddalam: Kalamandalam Achutha Varier, Kalanilayam Manoj
Chutty: RLV Somadas, Kalamandalam Sukumaran
Kaliyogam: Sandarsan, Ambalappuzha

Crew

Director: Hareesh N. Nampoothiri (Haree | ഹരീ)
Producer: Gokul Govind
Writers: Toji, Haree
Camera: Benny Poonthoppu
Editor: Binu Purushothaman
Art Director: SuSu
Stills: SuSu, Haree
Production Controller: Santhosh
PRO: B. Josekutty
Light Unit: Throbe

Media

• 2009 January 27 - Expresso Suppliment - The New Indian Express (TVPM Edition)

Thouryathrikam - Announcement (in Malayalam)

Visit the above link to view more news paper cuttings and production shots.

Description: Thouryathrikam - A documentary on Kathakali directed by Hareesh N. Nampoothiri aka Haree | ഹരീ. Script by Toji and Haree. Camera by Benny Poonthoppu and Sethu. Produced by Gokul Govind. Editing by Binu Thiruvananthapuram. Kalamandalam Ramachandran Unnithan, Kalamandalam Vijayakumar, Kalamandalam Hari R. Nair, Kalamandalam Shanmukhadas, Madhu Varanasi, Kalamandalam Sucheendran and Kalamandalam Arun Varier played various roles. Pathiyoor Sankarankutty, Kalamandalam Hareesh Nampoothiri and Kalamandalam Rajeevan rendered padams. Kalamandalam Krishnadas, Margi Venugopal in Chenda and Kalamandalam AchuthaVarier, Kalanilayam Rajeevan in Maddalam were the accompanients. RLV Somadas and Kalamandalam Sukumaran handled the Chutti. Sandarsan Kathakali Vidyalayam, Ambalappuzha provided costumes and ornaments.
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