Of Heroes and Villains

[To my dear friend Meera, with deep gratitude. Meera, who took me to watch my first Kathakali performance, who sang those magnificent Kathakali songs for me, whose entire family is bonded by the love and rich understanding of this extraordinary art form, who opened my eyes to grandeur I did not know lay at my very doorstep. ]

To watch a Kathakali performance is to know Wonder. A true Kathakali artist does not act a character, he IS the character. At every performance, he sheds the skin of his ordinary self to become a mythical character from the Mahabharatha or the Ramayana. He is much larger than himself, he is filled with grandeur, he knows what it is to be superhuman and human at the same time. A good Kathakali performer takes you out of yourself, elevates you from the mundane, and makes you experience every emotion in the superlative, makes you traverse the entire length and breadth of every feeling.

There are 5 kinds of veshams, or make-up, in Kathakali - Pacha, Kathi, Thadi, Kari and Minukku. Pacha or green for noble characters, Kathi or knife for villains, Thadi or beard for superhuman monkeys like Hanuman (White beard), evil characters (Red beard), or hunters (Black beard), Kari or black for she-demons, Minukku or prettying-up for female characters or sages.

An excerpt from Anita Nair's novel 'Mistress', where she brilliantly weaves in the life of a Kathakali artist with the lives of ordinary people "whose minds are contained by the practical needs of everyday."

Koman Aashaan, the old Kathakali artist, speaking to his niece:

"Radha, do you know the significance of the katthivesham in kathakali?'

Ravana, Narakasura, Hiranyakashipu...you know why these demon kings are classified as katthivesham? They are men born with noble blood in them. They could have been heroes. Instead, they let their dissatisfaction with their destinies curdle their minds, and so they turned out arrogant, evil, demonic.”