Another take on Onam tale

KOCHI: Who is Maveli and what does he look like? Is he the fair, chubby figure? Or a dark, mighty Asura king? Mavelippaattu by the band Mangosteen Club takes off on this tangent.  

“Maveli is always represented as a fair-skinned man adorned in elaborate attire, a crown, a pot belly and moustache. However, the real Maveli is supposed to be dark, like a rainy cloud. He was an Asura king,” says Vishnu Vilasini Vijayan, who directed the music video. 

Shot like a short film, a grim story unfolds as the music progresses. The lines penned by Ajay Jishnu and Ansif Abu flow like a carefully crafted poem. 

“In the Malabar belt, a person from the Malaya tribe would visit every house in the villages after fasting for days,” says Ajay.  “He, a dark figure, comes adorned in colourful paints and appreciates the pookalam (floral carpets), in front of houses. He never speaks, but carries a bell. He rings the bell to communicate. He embodies the great king that day. I grew up seeing this Maveli, who used to visit my home every year.” 

According to the band, the ‘Maveli’ portrayed in the video is not just a figure, but rather an idea. “He is an embodiment of the fighting spirit of the people,” says Ajay.

Maveli is presented as a mere mortal in the video, and is portrayed by Kammatipadam-fame actor Manikandan R Achari. “We have been trying to create the Mavelippaattu since last year. We also started crowdfunding for it. But we could only collect a third of our target. But we were determined to release the song this year,” says Vishnu. 

The little girl, the Maveli, the grandfather and even the representation of Lord Vishnu — the rich villain figure in the video — have done their part well. The little girl brings much-needed innocence to the story.
“Maveli might be dead. But his ideals still live on. That is what we tried to portray in Mavelippaatu,” says Ajay.