In its 30-year-long journey, Keli, a Mumbai-based cultural organisation, has strived to curate performances that go beyond entertainment. An art form’s cultural politics is intrinsically linked to social politics, they believe. Take for instance, their upcoming showcase at the Keli Poetry Performance Festival 2022-23 — thullal. The poetry performance tradition from Kerala was conceptualised by 18th century poet Kunchan Nambiar. 

“In those days, artistic journey was a privilege of the upper castes. Nambiar, who used to play the mizhavu drum, fell asleep during a chakyar koothu performance. The chakyar, a representative of the upper caste, ridiculed him on stage. This prompted Nambiar to create another performing art form — thullal — to break upper caste monopoly,” explains artistic director and project coordinator Ramachandran K. The two-day presentation will feature performances by Kalamandalam Sharmila and group (ottan thullal) and Kalamandalam Preeja and group (sheethankan thullal).