Binoy Nambala is in search of the soul of Payakkamparachil.
“I am trying to understand it better,” says Mr. Namabla about what once constituted a popular art form in Malabar but virtually exited the scene in the late 1960s.
Thanks to his efforts as a student pursuing his doctoral degree at the Department of Theatre, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Payakkamparachil has achieved a form and consistency that promises to ensure its survival.
“Payakkamparachil is easily described as our own version of the stand-up comedy. It is more humorous and basically consists of relating a tale for residents of a locality, who are familiar with the characters appearing in the narrative,” says Gopan Chidambaram, Mr. Nambala’s research guide.
Payakkamparachil is a realistic telling of tales. Efforts by Mr. Nambala has succeeded in bringing back to life a form of performance that once ruled public spaces in the Malabar region on holidays and festive occasions, he said. There is a reference to Payakkamparachil in Oru Desathinte Katha by S. K. Pottekkatt, he recalled.
Community bonds
Mr. Nambala says Payakkamparachil is a form of storytelling, often with humorous songs, in an intimate and close-knit community where people are known to each other and where the characters are familiar to the audience. Small groups make the Payakkamparachil sessions more intimate through interactions between the audience and the artiste, says Mr. Nambala.
His quest started with the idea of a production-oriented thesis. Usual PhDs are written works, which the public has little or no access to. A dissertation that is enjoyable and accessible to the people is at the centre of the exploration, he says. It was with this idea that the thread of the present story was developed into ‘Suleimante Payakkamparachilukal’, which narrates Suleiman’s experiences in life.
Recalling performances of ‘Suleimante Payakkamparachilukal’, Mr. Nambala says that Payakkamparachil has acquired more flesh and blood. People, many of them quite old, come up with suggestions or share their memories and experiences after a show, says Mr. Nambala.
This experience has been more sharp in the Malabar region, he adds.
