#marattam

Govindan Aravindan - Marattam (1988)

Panicker’s one-act play deals with the relation of identification between an actor and his or her role. Aravindan put the stress on the relations between the viewer and the actor/role dualities. The action takes place on the eve of the last act of the Kathakali piece Keechakavadham (The Killing of Keechaka). The events surrounding the performance uncannily echo events in the play. "...the film can be divided into three parts. Each part is a version about the murder of Keechaka. The first version is told by Koipattiri who plays the role of Valalen [...] and acts out how Koipattiri kills Keechaka. The second part is the story told by the wife of Koipattiri. She tells the police that she has committed the murder. The third part of the story is told by the chorus. They killed the artist in Kelu because Kochashan (tutor) from the 'Kalari' (school) tells them to do so. All the three episodes are rendered differently. [...] I have kept a continuous movement while fusing the three episodes. Most of the shots used in the film are either crane shots or trolley shots. There is no still shot other than that of the policeman who is in a way, external to the story."