Egyptians are enthralled by God's own Kathakali

ALAPPUZHA: After witnessing Kathakali performances in four cities for the first time early this month, the Egyptian media have lauded the aesthetic beauty of Kerala’s quintessential drama-dance. Kathakali artiste Kottakkal Rajumohan and his nine-member troupe enthralled the audience in Bibliotheca Alexandrina on August 1, Port Said on August 3, Ismailia on August 4 and culminating in Cairo on  August 6. The Kathakali tour was part of the 14th Summer Festival organised by Bibliotheca Alexandrine.

“In the last decade, the Egyptian audience has seen much from India, but not Kathakali,” says the Al-Ahram weekly broadsheet from the stable of the 141-year-old Al-Ahram, Egypt's largest circulated daily. “The performance included two stories adapted from the epic Srimad Bhagavata:  Poothanamoksham (an episode from the major Hindu deity Krishna’s childhood), Santha-nagopalam (a Brahmin’s wife tragically gives birth to nine stillborn babies).” Since the 1950s, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) had been promoting Indian culture in Egyptian soil, playing an important role in the dynamism spearheaded by the Embassy of India and the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC).

“This also provided an opportunity for the culturally savvy people of Egypt to know and explore more about India,” it says in the report titled India's Kathakali dance-drama unfolds colours of Kerala in Egypt. Rajumohan’s Egyptian tour had three actors, three percussion players, two musicians and one makeup artist. Kathakali was the only event from India chosen by Bibliotheca Alexandrina International Summer Festival besides Santoor, slated for September.