Kerala, a very rich region of variant art forms had patronage from kings, feudal lords and rich people but by the beginning of the 20th century that culture slowly declined because of the British rule and education that taught us a different perspective about our culture and art forms. Kutiyattam, Kathakali, Krishnanattam, Theyyam, Mutiyettu, Padayanietc were marks of a culture that made the region unique in every aspect. Nature, culture and art forms were blended together to create a new dimension of intellectual and aesthetic existence in Kerala. Both the upper castes and the lower castes as well as the tribal people had diverse art forms that fused together in such a way that one could see how much each form of art was indebted to the other.
Tholppavakkoothu, shadow leather puppetry show has been a strong theatrical performance in Valluvanadu and Palakkad regions of Kerala for centuries and a few families belonging to the Pulavar community are the protagonists. From the making of puppets to the performance all the members of the family used to participate. Mainly performed in front of the temple of goddess the text of the show is derived from Kamba Ramayana, the Tamil classic. A blend of Malayalam, Tamil and Sanskrit is the vocal narration according to which the puppets are manipulated in front of the meticulously arranged oil lamps with shallow pots.
Krishnankutty Pulavar, the 20th century maestro of Tholppavakkoothu scientifically choreographed the play in the form we could see today and Kamaladevi Chatopadhyaya, Kapila Vatsyayan, Venu. G and others promoted it at such a level that now it has attained a universal acclaim as Kutiyattam, Kathakali, Krishnanattam, Theyyam, Mutiyettu have received. Unfortunately very few studies are there about the details of the art form though there are attempts. This unique art form has elements of theatre, music, instrumental accompaniment; narration in a particular pattern, scientific light and shade arrangement, dramatic animation movement etc and each component is a topic for detailed study. Here BabuNamboodiri. K. has ventured to go into the essence of Tholppavakkoothu. Being a painter himself BabuNamboodiri can very well theorise the intricacies of the forms of the puppets, space used for the shadow on the screen (Ayapputava) and also the nature of animation. Though Babu's study is not an exhaustive one as he himself admits, it is an analytical introduction to the unique shadow puppetry which has universal appeal because of the language of performance as one of the oldest theatrical and animation forms in the world. History, myths, making of the puppets, colouring of the puppets, details of the theatre, performance details etc are dealt with by the author with considerable authority. As a painter when Babu studies the visual aspects of the theatre it gives an additional value than a study by a literary scholar.
Babu Namboodiri's attempt to compare the similarities of the Tholppavakkoothu of Kerala with those of Tamil Nadu and Andhra region is the most striking aspect of his study. The South Indian culture though shows a lot of variables in many aspects have a latent status that is common in essence which can easily be termed Dravidian. The cultural value of art becomes more powerful if we study any art form in the context of cultural aesthetics which has a number of layers of social dimensions. When BabuNamboodiri enters into that area of study he earnestly connects the cultural and aesthetic value of the shadow puppetry to the Dravidian heritage. In Kerala's Tholppavakkoothu itself the artists use three languages namely Malayalam, Tamil and Sanskrit that can undoubtedly prove its relation with Tamil region and also the culture of Kerala after Sanskrit became a language of significance.
The theatre kinetics of any form of puppetry is very complicated because the movement is very complex as the animation is very much stylized showing the hidden power of the body language of the people of the region. Theatre is always connected with space and body language and in Tholppavakkoothu the body language (animated movement of the puppets) of the theatre is stylized to create a sense of audio visual rhythm which can easily be considered as the prototype of the modern virtual images on the silver screen of cinema; and it is not a wonder that Kerala Chalachitra Akademy (Film Akademy) has been using an image of shadow puppet of Kerala as its emblem for even film festivals.
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