Curtain and Make-up

History

Desaposhini entered the field of amateur drama in 1930s, when Tamil musical-drama’s influence started to show off in Malayalam theatre arts. There was no special stage settings for the dramas of that time – actors performed in the light of hurricane lamps. The artists of Desaposhini at that time desired to direct their debut; all by themselves.
A set of curtain comprising foreground and background draperies was made under the leadership of P.Perachan and C.P. Raghavan for the drama which was played in 1940, as part of Desaposhini’s anniversary. A cut-out of a house drawn on paper was clipped on the curtain; this was entirely a new experience for theatre lovers.
Later Desaposhini used a wide variety of curtains for its dramas. A good number of experiments were carried out by Desaposhini; Palaces drawn on sacks, masks made out of bamboo and tiles were some of them. Curtains by the curtain committee for dramas like Bhalidanam and Pushpavrishtti arrested the attention of viewers. Desaposhini continued to make curtains for epic-dramas, social dramas, dance dramas Et cetera.
Through Desaposhini’s activities people came to recognize the importance, relevance and possibilities of art-direction and mise-en-scene in theatre arts above scripting and staging.
Desaposhini took over not only the task of making curtains but also that of making costumes, make-up Et cetera needed for various characters. Gradually, in 1948, C.P. Raghavan formed the curtain committee to handle art-direction, costume designing, make-up Et cetera. During those days women didn’t come forward to act. Men had to deal with roles of women as well. This delicate make-over process was handled painstakingly by curtain committee’s people, who achieved big success for dressing up characters of epic-dramas with the standing and seriousness they deserved.
The audience received the Greek make-over of M.Kunjhady, Balan k Nair, Vasu Pradeep, Mehattu Vasanthi Et cetera for the hyped drama Oedipus with great amazement. C.P. Raghavan bagged first prize for Oedipus in Costume designing at the drama fest which took place in Kottayam.
Desaposhini’s curtains and other stage properties, make-up, clothes Et cetera had enriched Kozhikode’s theatre arts. Art committees of far off places also made good use of our curtain committee’s services. Desaposhini’s curtains have traversed the length and breadth of the state and have also reached Tamil Nadu’s Goodallur. In the beginning drama committees gave small contributions for these curtains. But with an increase in demand for curtains it slowly became a source of income for the library. Our curtains were used for around 100 programs every year. There was no other place that drama committee could approach for this need.
Along with C.P.Raghavan, P.Perachan, M.Bhaskaran Nair, M.T. Kurungadam, P. Damodaran, E.N.Bharathan, K.Shankaran, A.Chandran, A.K. Shankaran Et cetera were also active members of the curtain committee. M.Padmanabhan, K.V. Krishnan, K.K. Vasu, K. Unni and P.C. Chandran were the people who tied curtains
Today most of the art-educational-religious organizations have their own curtain sets for small programs. Apart from this there is also a practice of distributing curtains on rent in the district. Gradually drama and its staging underwent changes. Drawn background-curtains are not in use today. Costumes and the way of dressing also underwent a host of changes. Because of this the curtain committee does not have huge responsibilities like before. Still, curtain committee is continuing to function here. Even today these curtains are being used for festivals and public programs.

Curtain Committees(2024-2027)