Evening Sun vanishing in the sweet gold of western horizon….Divine forms step out into the luminous lap of the Queen of Arabian Sea.Watch them float. Watch them roar. Watch them love, fight, and cry in an art form that’s more refined and more colourful than any other performing art in the world, KATHAKALI, the stately dance of Kerala. Kathakali make-up is the the slow metsmorphosis of mortals into immortal deities and demons.
A lengthy affair, the process takes two-three hours to complete. Doing the facial using natural pigments like manayola, actors turn themselves into mythical being step-by-step. And as the brilliant head-gear fixed on their human heads, they become larger tahn life realities. Elements of the art of Kathakali are believed to have been gradually developed in Kerala from early as the 2nd century until the end of the 16th century. Kathakali as an individual style of dance-drama emerged as a ‘people’s theatre’ from the traditional dances of the past.