‘Nangeli’ resurrected in musical album

An experimental production by an all-woman crew

‘Nangeli’, one of the main characters of ‘Poothappattu’, a poem by Edasseri Govindan Nair, is well known to Malayali readers as an embodiment of a mother’s love for her child, besides her mental strength to fight the ‘Pootham’ to get her child back.

‘Aval’ (She), a music album by Sravanika, an amalgamation of arts, tries to bring back Nangeli in the current context, highlighting all women to imbibe the spirit of the fictional character to fight modern-day ‘Pootham’ (evil spirit).

Sravanika is a State-wide collective of woman school teachers with creative spirit. Thus, a salient feature of the album is that it has an all-woman crew.

“We have tried to bring in the spirit of Nangeli and Pootham without using Poothappattu,” said Asha Mohan, director of the album. The team used snippets from Malayalam poems in the nine-minute video.

“The artistes painted their faces and body to imbibe the spirit of the characters. Body painting plays a major role in communicating the idea, as choreography does,” Ms. Mohan said, adding that painting the body was a means of protest against society that still dictates a dress code for women.

Cinematography is by Suma Mahesh, while Bhamini and Usha handled editing. July Wott is the art director.

The artistes and technicians, all teachers from different parts of the State, had come together in Kozhikode to present the experimental concept. The music video will be released on Youtube channel of Sravanika on March 7. The official launch will be made by Rekha C., education standing committee chairperson of the Kozhikode Corporation at 4 p.m. on March 7.