PRASANTH NARAYANAN

Prasanth NarayananHe was born to renowned Kathakali playwright Vellayani Narayanan Nair and K. Santhakumari Amma in Thiruvananthapuram on July 16, 1972. He was trained in Kathakali under maestro Chandramana Govindan Namboodiri (Darpana) since childhood. He made his mark in Kathakali by writing and composing an Attakatha (script for Kathakali) titled 'Bharatantam' at the age of 19.He then went on to get training in acting and direction from the School of Drama, Thrissur. He ventured in contemporary theatre scene with his directorial debut of Rabindranatha Tagore's 'Post Office'.Since then, Prasanth Narayanan has directed many plays like Hamlet, Vajramukhan, Oorubhangam, Dootakhadolkacham and Chayamukhi. He attended the India Festival at Bangladesh in 1996, along with Kavalam Narayana Panicker.Prasanth Narayanan has authored many plays which include titles like Kunjanu Bhranthanu, Aracha Charitam, Thoppikkaran, Baloonukal, Vajramukhan, Pravukal, Chayamukhi, Sooryarasipuram and Devayanam.Besides theatre, he has acted in the Malayalam feature film 'Sesham' and in nearly 20 television fiction serials like Vajram, Thaali, Vidhi, Marubhoomiyil Pookalam and Detective Anand. He also worked as a reporter with the Thiruvananthapuram news bureau of Malayalam daily 'Mangalam'. Presently, he is employed with the Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Kerala. --

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About chayamukhi

The drama, 'Chayamughi' disseminates a very sharp message, and it is a clarion call to the renovation of the clichéd Kerala drama stage. It tries to portray the mere truth that 'it easy to love than to be loved, for only lucky persons are loved and admired'. Chayamughi discusses the issues of the present society, apart from the fact that the play is set in the background of the epic, Mahabharatha. In other words, the play Chayamughi is a mirror placed towards the present Kerala society. The theme of the drama: Chayamughi is a looking glass gifted to Bhima by his lover Hidumbi during the time of their stay at woods, which will show the face of his/her lover instead of showing the face of the person who is looking. A magical mirror and a mythical one, Chayamughi plays the part of the cynosure of the drama from the start to end and thus the title 'Chayamughi' is apt to the drama. When Bheema looks at the mirror, he sees the image of Panchali, while the mirror shows the image of Arjuna when Panchali looks. But ironically, the mirror does not give any image to Keechaka, the villain of the play, who is a poet and the Commandant of the force of the country, Virata. But after the slaying of Keechaka, Bheema holds the mirror in front of Keechaka's face and the image of Panchali is displayed. The story is lead forward by three burglars of the present tense, and the play starts when they caught glance of the Pandavas and Panchali who accidentally happened to come across the burglars in the woods spinning out of the roll of time from the past. Thus, the drama, Chayamughi is an attempt in vain to escape from the flow of time.
The stage setting and dramatisation of Chayamukhi gives a spectacular and magical atmosphere to the spectators. Obvious to say, Malayalam drama never witnessed such a fantastic, tempting and colorful setting up of the staging and presentation. Apart from the direction of Mr. Prashanth Narayanan, a young and promising director of the Malayalam stage, and the performance highly notable actors like Mohanlal, who played the part of Bheema, and Mukesh, who played the role of Keechaka, the music of the drama too is alluring. The young actress, Aparna, who played the role of Panchali too performed up to the mark even while performing along with the doyens of Malayalam cinema. The actors who played the parts of the three thieves of the present time too did it well. The drama had got rid of the usage of timeworn artificial and dramatic dialogues, intonations and punches; instead, the characters speak in a musical tone with the influence of the style of folklore.