When Koodiyattam scholar G. Venu was appointed director of the Sweden-based World Theatre Project, he believed it was a life-time opportunity that would provide him with the much-touted global exposure. To his utter surprise, however, what was revealed to him were some home truths. In what was clearly an eye-opener, Venu learnt that while Abhijnana Sakuntalam, the celebrated epic of Kalidasa, had been translated and performed worldwide in languages as diverse as Chinese and Vietnamese, it had never once been staged in the 2,000-year-old Koodiyattam style, arguably the world's oldest surviving Sanskrit theatre from Kerala.

CLASSIC RETAKE: Venu's Abhijnana Sakuntalam deviates from tradition

Overcome by a sense of shame, Venu was determined to make amends. As head of Natanakairali, a centre for classical arts attached to the Ammanur Chakyar Matham, the premier Koodiyattam school in Irinjalakkuda, Thrissur, he defied all odds to produce and choreograph the first-ever Koodiyattam play drawing on a Kalidasa classic. Based on Sakuntalam itself, it spans all the seven acts taking a good 12 hours to be staged through four days.

The task, admittedly, proved to be an arduous one. With no precedent to fall back on, Venu had to start afresh. Holding an international seminar and workshop attended by Koodiyattam scholars, including the only living patriarch of the art, Ammanur Madhava Chakyar, was the first step. From the pool of ideas emerged an acting and production manual, an essential requirement for Koodiyattam which is characterised by its complex grammar and dramatic nuances.

"The real difficulty lay in convincing traditionalists about some of the experiments we had to make in keeping with Koodiyattam's uniqueness," says Venu, pointing to the fact that it was only three decades ago that the art form came out of the temples. Until recently, no one outside the Chakyar community even performed Koodiyattam.

All that has, however, changed with Venu's version of Sakuntalam with its freer structure. Giving the character of Sakuntala a feminist angle, Venu has boldly depicted her rage on being spurned by King Dushyanta. He has also introduced new stage characters like the fisherman who recovers the ring that Dushyanta gave Sakuntala. "Initially, purists were annoyed with the move," admits Venu. "I had to convince them that they were necessary to present the play in a dramatic format."

For the purists, the "undue" emphasis on the dramatic element compromises the very style of Koodiyattam which entails elaboration of a brief text through extended acting. This allowed for the portrayal of the "poetic quality of the text with multiple layers of meaning, figures of speech and expression". Says Margi Madhu, a Koodiyattam performer: "The accent on dramatics is cutting out what is best about Koodiyattam. This may bring initial popularity but interest will wane eventually."

Not everyone agrees. Sanskrit scholar K.G. Paulose, for instance, sees Venu's presentation as the most significant moment in the history of Koodiyattam. "It has brought back the element of drama which was lost when other Sanskrit plays were adapted for Koodiyattam," he says.

Declared a "masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity" by unesco last year, Koodiyattam had traditionally omitted Kalidasa's works while drawing on the plays of other ancient Sanskrit dramatists like Bhasa, Harsha, Sakthibhadra, Asvaghosha and Kulasekhara.

There are several theories to explain these exclusions. According to Koodiyattam scholar Sudha Gopalakrishnan, "Kalidasa's language with its rich poetic nuances does not lend very easily to choreographic treatment." Art critic M.G. Shashibhushan says the popularity of Kalidasa's literary work must have unnerved those wanting to try it out in a different form.

Paulose, however, looks at it as a reflection of the times. "In all arts of the feudal age, women were depicted only as objects of lust," he says. "Sakuntalam was ahead of its times as it went beyond the physical." While it is evident that the Koodiyattam presentation of Sakuntalam seeks to break new ground, the question whether it has closed the time gap is still open.