Kaliyachan, 2015

Recently, I watched Kaliyachan, a Malayalam movie based on the life of a Kathakali artist.

In the recent times, this was the third Malayalam movie I watched which had performing arts as a backdrop. Two of the other movies were directed by Shaji Karun, Vaanprastham with Mohanlal as a Kathakali dancer and Swapnam with Jayaram as a Chenda, a percussion instrument, player.

Kaliyachan is a movie released in 2015, but many years in making, by a debutant director on silver screen, Farook Abdulrahiman. Farook is a veteran of television and has also made many telefilms.

In what must be quite rare, the film is inspired by a poem by Malayalam poet Late P. Kunhiraman Nair, called Kaliyachan published in 1950s. The poem, highly autobiographical, from a poet known for his bohemian ways, was about a Kathakali dancer.

 The movie uses Kathakali as a backdrop and doesn't have very photogenic visuals of the art, in the process eroticising it. It focusses on the life of its protagonist, for whom, Kathakali is a special, but everyday occurrence.

Manoj K Jayan, in the role of the main character, is quite understated and effective. The inner restlessness of the character, hubris of the character and ultimate destruction are very authentically portrayed. It won him the second best actor award at the state film awards.

A female character, one of the lovers of Kunhiraman, the protagonist, intrigued me no end. Devu, played by Marathi actor, Tirtha Murbadkar, she lives alone, consorts at will and asks Kunhiraman to vanish when she doesn't think of him to be useful anymore. A woman firmly in charge of her sexuality, she left me wondering as to whether she was a unique individual or was one of the many strong women characters from a matrilineal Nair society. The director is on record as having said Devu was the personification of many women in Kunhiraman's life and in a way she is the female version of Kunhiraman himself. As he couldn't find any Malayali actresses willing to play the unconventional role, he had to get somebody from outside the state.

Film's music is great, with many lyrics from the poet himself and it also got an award at the national film awards.

What stays in the end are also visuals of boat crossings, in what is supposed to be the river Nila.

Thanks to NFDC and Nina Lath for producing this movie, an important piece of cultural history of Kerala.

PS : Another film on P Kunhiraman Nair's life Ivan Megharoopam is on my watch list.

PPS- Wonder when somebody would make a film on the life of the legendary author Vaikom Mohammad Bashir's life or legendary film maker John Abraham's life.