Krishnanattam - a film by Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Review

Totayam	A scene from Avataram

Krishnanattam, a devotional ritual art, being intimately linked with the Guruvayur Krishna Temple, it is most appropriate that the film starts with the temple utsavam (festival) with shots of devotees prostrating before the Lord, when He comes out of the temple, with the opening mangala (auspicious) shloka of each play (Sauvarnadbhuta ...) being heard in the background. The scene shifts to the avatara scene in the first play of the cycle, Avataram, where Vasudeva and Devaki praise new born Krishna who appears as Vishnu. This is followed by the last scene of the play where gopa women complain to Yashoda about various mischievous pranks of the boy Krishna. Scenes from the plays Kaliyamardanam (Krishna encounters the asura bird Baka), Kamsavadham (the wrestling match), Svayamvaram (Kalayavana and Krishna) and Banayuddham (Krishna defeating Bana) follow.

Purappatu in Banayuddham	Mullappuuchuttal dance

The scene shifts to the Green room where we find the makeup artists helping the artists at various stages of preparation. This is followed by scene of Narakasura's entrance in the play Banayuddham and the various masks- that of Yamadharma, Jambavan, Putana, Brahma, Ghantakarna and lastly Murasura who does a complete round turn to fully display the five faces.

Training	Training

Scenes of training of the actors follow including kannusadhakam (training the eyes) and chavitti uzhichchil (massaging the body of young actors). Afterwards, the scene shifts to the evening Keli (the playing of instruments for about 10 minutes at about six o'clock in the evening to announce the play). The lighting of Kalivilakku (the tall lamp in front of which the players perform, and which represents the deity), holding of the curtain by the stagehands and Totayam (the opening ritual performed behind the curtain to pay obeisance to the gods and the stage) follows.

Kalarippayattu demonstration	Applying chutti

When the curtain is taken away, we find the exquisite opening purappatu scene of Banayuddham, Krishna and Satyabhama riding on Garuda. The scene cuts to the garbhavarnana of Devaki in the play Avataram and the film concludes with the celebrated Mullappuuchchuttal dance from the play Rasakrida.

In summary, in the documentary Krishnanattam which lasts a mere seventeen minutes, Adoor Gopalakrishnan has managed to cover all the essential aspects of Krishnanattam. As a part of the training of the role of Kalayavana (in the play Svayamvaram), an expert of the martial art Kalarippayattu used to demonstrate various steps of this art. This is fortunately included in the documentary. It appears that this aspect of the training is very unfortunately discontinued these days. As theatre and drama expert Dr. Rustom Bharucha has commented elsewhere, Krishnanattam need to be watched inside the Guruvayur Temple. How unfortunate that permission was not given to Adoor Gopalakrishnan to film Krishnanattam inside Guruvayur Temple. Instead, the filming had to be done in the nearby Punnathur Palace.