The opening ceremony of the 13th International Film Festival of Kerala was nothing short of a visual extravaganza. Holding on to the very essence of the festival the ceremony showcased an array of visuals ingenious to Kerala and at the same time screening a film from another corner of the world. From the very primitive method of expressing to the very modern it was a spectacle merging the frontiers of both time and place! The theme of the visuals was worked out from Lankalakshmi, the logo of the Festival and the ceremony opened with Tholpaavakoothu, a ritual art form of Kerala. The ceremony closed with the screening of the Israeli film Laila’s Birthday. In a way the evolution of visuals was what the ceremony expressed.

This ceremony pointed out the fact that Lankalakshmi being the logo of IFFK is not a mere coincidence. It highlights the way visuals originated and how they were expressed. A retrospective on tholpaavakoothu is a need of the moment. Tholpaavakoothu, which literally means leather-puppet show, is a ritual art having its origin at Palakkad – a district in Kerala. It is performed in koothambalams, with in the Bhagavathi Temple premises of Palakkad. Legend says that while Goddess Bhagavathi was engaged in the battle with the demon Darika, Rama killed Ravana. She could not witness the victory of the good over evil. So in Bhadrakali temples Ramayana is enacted through tholpaavakoothu. The whole epic is presented in 21 days.

The puppets are made of deer skin. After cutting it into desired shapes, perforations are made symbolizing costumes and ornaments to highlight shadow. The bamboo splint inserted behind provides support. They are placed behind the screen with a strong source of light behind them such that their shadows fall on the screen. Behind the wooden plank-fixed a little away from the twelve meter long white curtain are coconut halves filled with oil. They are arranged in such a way that only the shadows of the puppets fall on the screen camouflaging that of the puppeteers.

What is seen here is a much simplified way of how films are projected onto to the screen. It has all the elements of cinema. There are dialogues, music, story which is narrated by the actors coming on screen, the play with light and its imagesand the viewers. Behind the screen there are many people – the musicians rendering live music, the director controlling all the threads, the actors delivering the dialogues, the technicians controlling the light and the shadows falling on the screen. Another aspect of the art form is the way the narrator incorporates into the myth an event of contemporary relevance. At the ceremony lankalakshmi evoked the blessings of God on the delegates who have come from around the world.

As two events placed in the same evening, the screening of Rashid Masharawi’s Laila’s Birthday was a much advanced version of the tholpaavakoothu. The manipulations of human hands behind both are basically the same but there is long span of evolution between the two. For the keralites, tholpaavakoothu is their own version of the cinema. From Lankalakshmi to Laila’s Birhthday: twelfth of December 2008 saw a jump cut from the centuries old myth to the tale of a Palestinian Taxi driver, highlighting the way visuals and cultures have evolved. The whole evening showcased the play with light and shadows, unveiling before us the journey of the visuals.

Swetha Antony
©FIPRESCI 2008