Ottamthullal - an art form of Kerala, struggling to survive

The art form created by the great poet Kunjan nambiar 400 years ago, now dying a slow death. Nowadays it is very rare to see an ottamthullal performance in Kerala and the sad thing is, a very few people even know about this art form.

Despite all, Kalacharya P S Maraar and his son Balakrishna marar keeping this art form alive by performing various stage shows. Father and son striving to rescue this art form, hopes a new life for this art form.

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Ottamthullal

Ottamthullal is a performing art of Kerala. The great malayalam poet Kunjan Nambiar created Ottamthullal as an alternative of Chakyar koothu (performing art of Kerala) and is known as poor man's Kathakali.

Ottam thullal is replete with humour, sarcasm and social criticism. The actor establishes powerful communication with spectators through verbal acting which is interspersed with humour and social references. Ottamthullal became popular because of its simplicity and it is easily understandable comparing to Kathakali for ordinary people. The stories from hindu epics are retold in simple malayalam poetry.

Ottamthullal is a solo performance. The performer will act and dance while singing thullal poems. Simple costumes similar to Kathakali and percussion instruments like Mizhav(a big drum made of copper) and cymbal are used.

Kerala kalamandalam, founded by the great poet vallathol narayana menon, intended to promote kerala arts offers course in Ottamthullal.

Watch the video clip of Ottam thullal.....

Mohiniyattam

Mohiniyattam is the classical dance form of Kerala, performed by women. Literarily, Mohiniyattam means the dance of enchantress. The slow, soft and graceful movements, expressions, the traditional costumes etc. of this classical dance, really enchants the spectators.

Mohiniyattam has the influences and elements from other dance forms like koothu, koodiyattam, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali etc.

In Mohiniyattam, more importance is given for gestural and facial expressions. The hand gestures used are almost same as in Kathakali.

The costumes used by Mohiniyattam artists are cream or off-white colour sari with golden borders, Gold ornaments and a traditonal hairstyle includes white colour floweres.

The song of mohiniyattam are based on carnatic music and the language used is Manipravalam (a mix of Malayalam and Sanskrit). Instruments used are veena, flute, maddalam, edakka etc.

Watch the video of famous Malayalam film actress Divya unni's Mohiniyattam performance.....