Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 10 : Koothu

Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 10

From 6 pm, 7 Aug, Friday

Film : Koothu
Dir: Sandhya Kumar; 52 minutes; Tamil & English; 2018

Synopsis: In many villages in Tamil Nadu, a theatre tradition still links people with a past. Closely connected with religion and caste rituals, koothu brings to life stories about gods, demigods, kings and demons from the 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 place and patronage in urban art circles. Who decides what is classical? Who decides what is sophisticated? Through the work of two koothu masters, P. Rajagopal and Sambandan Thambiran, this film presents the art and the aesthetics of koothu and looks into several questions surrounding Koothu.

Awards / festivals :
IDSFFK 2019
SIGNS 2019
Mumbai International Film Festival 2020
21st Madurai Film Festival 2019
7th Chennai Film Festival 2019
International Theatre Festival of Kerala 2020

About the filmmaker : Sandhya Kumar is a film and communications 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. 

Sandhya’s films have traveled in India and internationally, with screenings at the Mumbai International Film Festival, The Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, SF MOMA, The 3rd I South Asian Film Festival, Film South Asia, Kathmandu and International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. She had 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.

Interaction : Via zoom on Sunday, 9 Aug @ 11 am!
Message 9940642044 for ID and password