The use of Kerala’s conventional puppetry in a music video by director Emcy Joseph throws open a world of prospects for the artwork kind
Kochi’s metro practice gliding over tracks, a visitors sign, the Biennale, a Royal Enfield bike or for that matter a soccer match don’t function in Tholpavakoothu, a type of shadow puppetry historically carried out in Kerala temples. Director and advert filmmaker Emcy Joseph made an uncommon resolution when he selected to make use of Kerala’s artwork kind in his music video, ‘Mindi Meettam’. The video is receiving rave evaluations for its crossover attraction.
Conventionally Tholapavakoothu makes use of leather-based puppets to inform tales from the Kamba Ramayana.
“COVID-19 protocols place restrictions on filming with one having to work with a reduced crew. It made me think of alternatives,” says Joseph of utilizing the medium. With this video the director of the Malayalam movie Vikruthi turns singer and composer. This is his maiden music professionally and the lyrics are by Shahul Mezhathur.
The music required extra folks to speak a way camaraderie regardless of all that’s being missed as a result of pandemic — busy roads, folks, the sights and sounds. “I wanted a medium that could express movement, show things that move,” he says, disclosing that he did toy with the thought of utilizing sand artwork and determined towards it due to its managed actions.
He zeroed in on Kerala’s shadow puppetry and its practitioners in Kerala at Tholpavakoothu Kalakendram, Palakkad. “It was a new, modern experience for us as well,” says Rajeev Pulavar, a member of the staff of puppeteers who collaborated with Joseph. Using the shape in a music video got here with its set of challenges: the primary was if it could possibly be completed. Especially with its references to modernity, soccer gamers and their actions had been a problem, Rajeev confesses.
Joseph concurs, “The primary concern, on both sides, was ‘will it work?’” The idea demanded a completely completely different set of not solely puppets but in addition a brand new repertoire of actions. Rajeev agrees, “Each minute movement had to be shown. We were making adjustments even as filming was on.”
Since making puppets out of leather-based takes time, cut-outs of the metro practice, soccer, gamers and cell phone had been fabricated out of thick paper and board. “We used leather for a few, and are now converting more from this into leather to use it for other projects,” Rajeev says.
The filming was completed at Palakkad, on the Tholapovakoothu Kala Kendram’s theatre over the course of 24 hours, with seven puppeteers working in tandem. The total course of — from making puppets to the ultimate video — took a month. The time Joseph spent on the challenge helped him perceive the potential for the medium and the scope of puppetry.
A New telling
- Rajeev Pulavar hails from a household of practitioners of the artwork kind, within the custom for the final 13 generations. His father, Kalashree Ramachandra Pulavar, a Sangeet Natak Akademi award-winning artist led the staff. His grandfather, additionally a Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner, KL Krishnan Kutty Pulavar launched the capsule type of tholpavakoothu for the stage, encapsulating the 10-hour lengthy performances to smaller codecs of an hour or an hour-and-a-half for stage.
- “Although the art form has moved out of temples and is performed on stages, being used in a music video was a new experiment. It has been adapted to tell secular stories, theatre and for Government awareness campaigns such as COVID-19 and ‘Break the Chain’,” says Rajeev.
With post-pandemic restrictions, content material creators are looking out for various and conventional artwork varieties resembling this. Joseph feels it is a viable choice. “The use of traditional art forms works on two levels — it would generate employment for the practitioners and the cost would be cheap. In normal circumstances the art is confined to temple festivals, with most of the revenue coming from there. What about a situation like now? You can create authentic animation using puppetry,” Joseph provides.
Says Rajeev, “As long as puppetry was seen as a traditional, narrative-based art form, people saw limited potential. But this video has changed the perception. People see it as an effective medium of visual communication.”
