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Koothu
The story of a rural theatre tradition and changing urban audiences
In collaboration with Vikalp Bengaluru
Director
52 minutes | 16:9 | India | 2018
English & Tamil with English subtitles
Produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust
The filmmaker Sandhya Kumar will be present at screening.
Synopsis
In many villages in Tamil Nadu, a theatre tradition still links people to a past. Closely connected with religious and caste rituals, koothu brings to life stories about gods, demi-gods, kings and demons from Indian epics. A typical koothu performance is an all-night show in which performers wear elaborate make-up, costumes and wooden ornaments, and simultaneously sing, dance and act on stage.
During the festival season, many koothu companies tour the countryside, often commissioned by villages to perform for several consecutive nights. Yet, in spite of its enduring rural popularity and because of its low-caste associations, koothu struggles to find a place and patronage in urban art circles. Who creates the binaries between folk and classical? Who decides what is crude and what is sophisticated? Through the work of two koothu masters, P. Rajagopal and Sambandan Thambiran, the film Koothu delves into questions of representation and patronage of the art form, while presenting its art and aesthetics.
Credits
Direction & Editing: Sandhya Kumar
Associate Director: Justin McCarthy
Assistant Director: Grace Mary Sukanya
Cinematography: Srikanth Kabothu and Saumyananda Sahi
Sound: Christopher Burchell and Shyamsunder
Director
Sandhya Kumar
Sandhya Kumar is a film graduate of San Francisco Art Institute and Jamia Millia University, New Delhi. Her 2012 documentary, ‘O Friend, This Waiting!’ won the Indian National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film, for its unconventional exploration of the Devadasi tradition in South India through the medium of love-poetry. She has received film grants from the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) and the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) and has been an ATSA fellow at ARThink South Asia. Sandhya is a trustee of Vikalp Bengaluru, a filmmakers’ collective committed to creating platforms for documentary films to reach wider audiences.
