When, in early 2024, Kathakali maestro Kalamandalam Gopi or Gopi Ashan, as he is fondly called, was approached for a project for the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) that would showcase him, the 87-year-old was enthusiastic about it. The project entailed capturing, on canvas, the navarasas (nine emotions) as interpreted by Gopi. “He did not need any convincing, he was game for it. His only condition was that we do it once the monsoons started,” says Mopasang Valath, the artist commissioned to execute the paintings.    

The idea, the brainchild of Vaikom Rajasekharan, a writer of attakathas (Kathakali stories), was to paint the veteran Kathakali actor in full makeup. “There are several photographs of Gopi Ashan’s navarasas but without chutti (the makeup/mask in Kathakali dance); this series of paintings is perhaps the first of a kind,” says Mopasang over the phone from Kottayam where he is based. 

The nine paintings mounted at the Business Jet Terminal at the Cochin Airport will be formally unveiled in December. The medium for the three feet by three feet works is acrylic. Mopasang who also paints using watercolours says that acrylic colours capture the vibrancy and brightness of Kathakali. He explains his reason for using acrylic colours. “Watercolours tend to be softer. It can be done but framing it with glass (as watercolour paintings have to be) would take away from the works. The reflection of light on the glass… several factors have to be considered.”

Mopasang Valath in his studio | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The 67-year-old self-taught artist says he was excited about the project when they started work in June 2024. Work meant first photographing Gopi as he performed the nine emotions, the cornerstone of classical Indian dance. Mopasang, accompanied by Rajashekharan, photographer Shaji Mullookkaaran, makeup artist Kalamandalam Sivaraman and costumier Kalamandalam Maneesh, travelled to Mundur, Thrissur, where he lives.  

Sharing a nugget of information, Mopasang says, “Ashan is very particular about the chutti and that Kalamandalam Sivaraman does it. So we got him from Palakkad to accompany us.” 

Rather than posing for photographs, Gopi put up a performance so that the navarasas could be captured. “The ‘stage’ was a short distance from his house. We set up the shoot there. It was a mini-performance of sorts for us. Ashan’s expressions flit past, capturing them is the challenging part. Incidentally, he was the first person I photographed when I bought a new Canon camera ages ago. But for this series, I could not photograph him or rather dare to photograph him. It is too special!” Mopasang did not take on another project for the duration of the work. The stunning paintings are so close to life that they could be mistaken for photographs. Only upon a closer look does one realise that these are paintings.  

“This was not something one can do mechanically, or at least I did not want to.” He listened to Kathakali music as he painted to get into the zone. He had to choose the ‘best’ nine from the over 600 photographs clicked that day. “The paintings were the work of around five months. I was in a different zone while working on them. Ashan’s presence filled my studio. In the 20-odd years that I have been an artist, having painted around 50,000 paintings, including Kathakali, I have not experienced something like this.” Mopasang paints commissioned works for hotels, commercial spaces and individuals too.

The paintings will be formally unveiled in December.