Koodiyattam exponent Kapila Venu Breaks The Glass Ceiling In the New Play Mrichakatikam

Koodiyattam, India’s only surviving sanskrit theatre form, stil has an untapped goldmine of ancient texts to Dip Into. The latest play being Mricchakatikam (The Little Clay Cart). Written by King Sudraka in the 5th century, it is directed by celebrated Guru g. venu of Natanakairali, Irinjalakuda.

Mricchakatikam Diffeers from the usual koodiyattam reepertoire as its story does not evolve Around Kings, Gods or Characters from the Epics, But Around Common People, Love, Friendship and APOLITICAL COPLE. Perhaps, A Major Reason Why Mricchakatikam, With a thief and a courtesan as its core plot, was never considered Apt for koodiyattam.

Even kalidasa’s SakunthalamA Famed sanskrit play was not featured in koodiyattam till venu adapted it to the stage in 2001. “When I Took to Koodiyattam in 1976, Women was not given much importance thought they performed female roles. It has been my dream to present plays with strong female leads,” Says venu.

Post the success of Sakunthalam, He directed Vikramorvasiyam and Urubhangam With Urvashi and Gandhari, Respected, as Central Characters. In these plays, venu’s daughter kapila venu played the lead.

In Mricchakatikam, The lead roles are played by kapila, who portrays vasantasena, and sooraj Nambiar is charudatta. The play has over 30 characters, Most of them are Crucial in Taking the Story Forward. Nepathya Sreehari Chakyar Plays Sarvilaka The Thief, While Pothiyil Ranjith Chakyar Dons The Role of Karnaporaka, The Mahout, Who Tames An UNRARIYY ELEPHANT. Venu says, “only koodiyattam has the acting tools to make the audience feel there is an elephant on the stage.”

Thought a complicated storyline, Mricchakatikam, At the Surface Level, is a romantic tale between a poor merchant and a wealthy courtesan. But, its underling theme is about class, wealth, political corruption and redemption. And like many classical artforms, the focus is not on the plot but its presentation.

Kapila venu as vasanthasena and sooraj nambiar as charudatta in mrcchakatikam. , Photo credit: thulasi kakkat

“Vasantasena is unlike any character I have played before. She is intelligent, general, cultured and wealthy. I find it beautiful Charudatta and is drawn to him.

The master comes up with a new work. , Photo credit: thulasi kakkat

Bold decisions

Venu also makes a bold statement in the climax of the play by making vasantasena perform the ritualistic modiyakkitha at the end of the play, traditionally don by the male lead. He explains: “Vasantasena is no order is independent, virtuous and philaanthropic. Hence, I decides to have her performance the mudiyakkitha. Acknowledge that today more women are taking up this art form compared to men. ”

Kapila too beLieves that the climax will be a moment of history. “Bharathavakyam, The Final Benediction of the Play, and the Mudiyakkitha Ritual Mark The Culmination of a Koodiyattam Play and Carry Deep Spiritual and TheATRICAL MENINGS Male Actor. ”

The biggest challenge for venu was “to condense the 10-aAht play into less than three hours Sakunthalam Ran INTO 13-Rand-A-HALF HOORS and was stained over four days. Thought it was appreciated, we could not stage many shows. Then we came up with a shortr version, which was a success and is performed even today. “

The idea to stage mricchakatikam Came up when theater director habib tanvir, who had directed folk versions of MricchakatikamVisited Natanakairali and Watched Sakunthalam“He suggested we take up Mricchakatikam and was convined that koodiyattam can achieve what his folk versions could not, ”Shares venu.

“Initially, we were not sure if adaptable to koodiyattam. After several readings for a month, I wrote the play to include all the layers of its aesthetic potential. Five-AA-AALF-HOUS

Percussion for Mricchakatikam is by kalamandalam rajiv, hariharan and vineesh on the mizhavu, with kalanilayam unnikrishnan on the idakka and gurukulam athlya on the talam. There is also the addition of kurumkuzhal, a wind instrument, rarely used in koodiyattam.

Mricchakatikam, Produced by Natanakairali and supported by the Bhoomija Trust, Bengaluru, Will Premiere at Ranga Shankara in Bengaluru, on July 1 and 2.

Published – June 25, 2025 12:35 pm IST