In October this year, theatre director and writer Prasanth Narayanan wrote on Facebook that his play Chayamukhi, enacted by the likes of Mohanlal and Mukesh, was adapted into a dance form without his knowledge and with no credits offered to him. While the concept and title of the play were entirely his, Mohiniyattam dancer Gopika Varma had presented it in multiple venues as her own, Prasanth alleged. After writing the Facebook post, and allegedly receiving a sarcastic response from Gopika, Prasanth went to court alleging copyright infringement. On December 23, the Principal District Court in Thiruvananthapuram ruled in his favour, granting an interim injunction restraining the dancer from performing Chayamukhi in any form till January 10.
Chayamukhi had become popular in the 2000s with its star cast – Mohanlal in the role of Bhima and Mukesh in another key role. It won many awards including one from the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi in 2003. Bhima is one of the most important characters in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. However, the play is not, like it is described by many on social media, based on a situation in Mahabharata, Prasanth wrote. Instead, he had placed a story from his imagination into a situation in Mahabharata, and the word ‘Chayamukhi’ was his coinage, Prasanth added. Chayamukhi, in the play, refers to a magic mirror presented to Bhima by Hidimbi, Bhima’s first wife.
Speaking to TNM, Prasanth said, “I came to know only later that the concept of Chayamukhi was used in a dance form by Gopika Varma since before the outbreak of COVID-19, and that she introduced the concept as her own. But Chayamukhi as a concept does not exist in Mahabharata. It is my creation. When I wrote that post on Facebook (in October), she commented that for her next performance of the dance, she would consult Vedavyasa (a sage regarded as the author of the Mahabharata) and Prasanth Narayanan. It is after that that I went to court,” Prasanth tells TNM.
Gopika Varma, who is based in Delhi, tells TNM that she will be responding to the copyright infringement suit in court, and that she did not wish to react to the interim injunction order.