Poetry in motion

KOCHI: With the pandemic threat looming large, artists and theatre performers are living in uncertainty. Some of them are experimenting with virtual media to increase their reach and get their art to more people. Theatre performer and film actor Krishnan Balakrishnan is working on a series of shorts videos titled ‘Selfie Play’, a one-man show where he enacts Malayalam poems.

“During the lockdown, all I had was social media to reach out to people. Mobile phone cameras have become a part of our bodies, soaking in our emotions. I didn’t want to sit idle waiting for the new normal to come around, so I decided to adapt,” says Krishnan.

The artist has showcased three videos so far, one or two minutes long each. “I was inspired by a Malayalam poem penned by Ratika Tilak a few months ago. It was an untitled contemporary piece. The second one based on Ariyunnu Gopike Ninne Njan by poet Ayyappa Panicker, and the recent one was on a short contemporary poem by my friend, Arun Jaya,” he says. Using sound modulations and expressions, Krishnan recites the poems.

Krishnan is planning to make a new play as a tribute to his guru  Kavalam Narayana Panicker. “It is based on his poem Vilkkunnilla Evidam. The poem is based on the intimacy one feels towards his ancestral home. I will portray it as conversations between two 
people,” he says.