Kathakali make up Essay Example for Free

Kathakali make up Essay Like all performing arts, Kathakali require facial make up. Professional Kathakali make up artists usually classify the make up process for Kathakali characters into five basic sets. These are the Pacha which is reserved for the mythological characters that belong to the hero Dhirodatta; Nala, Yudhishtra, Rukmangada, Arjuna and Bhimsena are just some of the characters who are treated with the Pacha make up. The next one is the Kathi or Katti which means ‘Knife’ and is characterized by the marking on the nose and forehead. Following it is the Kari which is characterized by the make up style that involves the putting of black in the face and red colors on the cheek bone complimented by the elongated black eyes like those found in characters like Ravana, Kamsa and Duryodhana. The Thaadi or Tadi is the one that refers to the beard of characters like Rakshasas and Dussasana (red beard), Vali and Sugriva which are the monkey kings and Kali (black beard), and Minukku. Female characters in Kathakali which are generally good-natured, like the Sages, Sadhus, Brahmins and Rishies, rendered with the Minukku make up, which represents the characters’ traits of spirituality, piousness, restraint, simplicity and equipoise. Make up for Kathakali is difficult, taxing, tedious and elaborate. It is difficult to make and create as it is difficult to remove too. A webindia123. com article on the make up of Kathakali characters notes how ‘it takes about four hours to wear and two to take it off’. The make up artist should be very particular with the colors since it symbolizes the emotions and the ‘gunas’ or their attributes. The make up artist should know when to make the eye appear lotus like and when to apply a square patch of black collyrium to make the character look more frightening. Looking at the performance of the Dryodana-vadham play, a section taken from the Mahabharata and conducted in the classical Kathakali way, a prospective make up artist can see not just the need for the consistency in make-up between characters who needs to appear with similarly shaded faces. In the Dryodana-vadham, two characters are featured in the performance namely Arjuna and Krishna. Both characters are wearing green base make up with white beard and reddish lips. During the play, war has broken out involving members of the same clan and Arjuna, the third of the five Pandava brothers, was the chosen leader. Arjuna is depicted as riding towards battle atop his war chariot. He is accompanied by Krishna who serves as his driver. They stop to look out over the enemy and Arjuna was distressed to see many of his relatives in the enemy chariots. Because of this, he tries to stop the battle. Arjuna is the one wearing the gold and red adorned circular head dress while Krishna is the one wearing the silver-hued head gear. From the dancing of the characters, their elaborate bodily movements and the sometimes severe heat brought about by the spotlight when performing inside a poorly air-conditioned theater, it is clear that the make up should be done perfectly so that it will hold and not melt or disintegrate throughout the performance. A Chouttikkaran can guide a make up artist in putting make up. The Chouttikkaran is tasked with this along with his other tasks since he has an active role in both the training stage and the performing stage. There are several characters in a Kathakali plays and all of them deserves different make-up treatment. There are characters in Kathakali play that portray men who are endowed with positive attitudes like piousness, or Satvik, and majestic, kingly air or Rajasic. For this particular type of character in the play, a make up which is predominantly green is expected. Acting as adversaries to these kinds of men are equally kingly and majestic male characters but is endowed with what is called a ‘tamasic’ characteristic. This means that these characters are those who are possessing evil characteristics in the play, and to be able to distinguish them from the pious, kingly men, those who have evil inclinations in the play like Ravana who is the popular demon king in Kathakali plays are colored with a very dose of red applied over a green background. But the mark of the true evil is found in the Chuvanna Thaadi or the Red Beard, the characters in Kathakali which is adorned by a very heavy red make up along with a red beard. Kathakali plays also features other characters aside from those mentioned earlier. Some other Kathakali characters include the uncivilized hunters Kari/ Karutha Thaadi or the black beard. The required make-up for these characters is usually characterized by a heavy black base complimented by a black beard. Kathakali plays also feature women characters, and for these women characters, the typical predominantly yellow make up on the face is required. For characters like the Monkey God Hanuman and the Sun God Pazhuppe, make up artists decorate the faces of the individuals portraying these characters by using a white beard or Vella Thadi to indicate their roles and characteristics. Aside from the colors of the make up particularly in the face, a Kathakali play also requires its make up artists to be knowledgeable in the enhancements of several facial parts of the different characters which adds depth and personality in every character. Some of the common facial parts that require elaborate exaggeration and enhancement include the moustache and the nose. The teeth are also exaggerated as some characters require appearing bearing fangs protruding from the mouth. The chin is another important aspect of the facial make up and design since the beards of the characters are supremely important in the successful portrayal of innate characteristics of each Kathakali persona. Make up artists craft a chutti or a chine mask for the characters, and this is one aspect of Kathakali make up that requires a very thick application of make up as well as other facial attachments. The usual way for the making and application of the chutti requires the make up artist to create a series of white ridges starting and developing evenly from both parts of the chin until it reaches the cheek. The stress of applying the makeup on the actors takes its toll on both the actors and the make up artists as well. Because of this, the make up artist and the actor / actress are expected to be truly dedicated to the performance of the Kathakali for them to be able to endure such stress. Stress generally results from the fact that first, Kathakali make up is usually long, the quickest procedure finished after three hours. The long work usually strains the muscles involved in the delicate and precise application of the make up. Some artists experience strain in the muscles found in the eyes, the lower back and the arms. The eyes are strained because for hours, the eyes are generally focused on the detail of the make up on the face as it develops. Actors are usually lying on a sleeping position, making it impossible for make up artists to sit down while providing the make up. They instead spend the entire time putting the make up on the character standing up and moving around as they decorate the face from one side to the other, straining the back. Make up artists are usually expected to be ambidextrous, meaning they can use both hands with equal results. This is important in applying make up especially if the process takes a long period of time like in Kathakali since this allows for the other arm to rest. Using just one arm in applying the make up can tire the make up artist faster. Another reason for the build up of stress is the need to combat fatigue. Fighting off tiredness and fatigue especially during the long and tedious hours of putting make up for Kathakali characters so that the focus on detail and make up aesthetics is constant can build up stress since the body is not relaxed anymore. Five main colors are very noticeable in Kathakali character’s make up, and these colors are designated because they represent the characters’ ethos. Green is the representation of the character’s ‘Sattivika’ nature, or the characteristic of the character to be pious and god-fearing. Red is the representation of the character’s ‘Rajasic’ nature, which refers to the disposition of being violent and totally ambitious. The ‘Tamasic’ nature is represented with the use of the color black, which is commonly used to refer to persons with evil personalities, although this is not always the case since sometimes it is also the color used to represent characters in the Kathakali which are aborigines as well as off-beat characters. Example of which is the character Kirata, who is actually Siva disguised as hunter. Yellow is the representation of the passivity of the characters, which is why it is commonly found in women characters in Kathakali. Yellow is also the similar coloring of other characters in the story like Narasimha, the Lion-God, the yellow hue used for the make up of the character representing adbhuta or wonder. White is the representation of the spirituality of the character. White is the basic make up of Hanuman and other half-human gods in the Kathakali which are characterized as benign sometimes and ferocious in other times. The make up in Kathakali plays is characterized by the use of vibrant and wide range of colors, and this is because colors in the face of the characters are generally symbolic as these colors indicate who they are and what the characters’ particular characteristics are. These colors indicate whether they are male (the use of pacha or green color in the face) or female (for female, the face make-up is usually that of yellowish tone, but aside from the yellow hue, female characters also wear black and red make up colors on their face, including the character Surpanaka of the Ashuras), human or god (god characters are assigned with the white beard) and good or evil (like the use of the red color in the face of Ravana and the and the uncivilized hunters who are considered as evil in the play).