The Kochi authorities are working to reinvent the traditional Koothambalam, a type of temple theatre in the south.
Apparently, they are looking to make a floating version of the theatre in order to entertain and make traditional art forms more accessible to the thousands of cruise tourists that visit the region.
One cannot deny that Kochi is quite known for being a tourist destination, especially among the cruise tourism industry.
Being a port area, a lot of cruises often take a break on the shores of the city, it bringing with them a lot of international tourists.
However, now in an ambitious project, the Tourism Department of Kochi is planning to build a world-class floating Koothambalam in order to tourism in the region.
The project is reportedly going to cost around Rs 4.80 crore and is said to be launching in August this year.
As per reports the Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran inaugurated the project on Monday at Fort Kochi.
Explaining the reason behind this project the secretary of Ernakulam District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) S Vijayakumar said that “Before the pandemic, we used to have 50 cruise ships with 50,000 tourists per year. Normally, tourists spend a maximum of 12 hours in Kochi en-route to their destinations like the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Of them, only 10 per cent visit nearby destinations. The remaining lot spend hours onboard. This target group can be attracted to the floating theatre set up closeby.”
The floating Koothambalm will be able to take on around 300 tourists at a single time and will be used to promote the state’s traditional art forms.
Officials have reportedly said that “The existing Koothambalams of the state will serve as a model for the project. It will be an elevated platform with a spacious hull. Apart from the performing area, there will be a cafeteria, souvenir store and other facilities. We are also planning to outsource space for a marine aquarium and similar facilities.”
There are only a few digitally designed images of how this new floating theatre could look:
While here are some other images of how exactly does a traditional koothambalam would look like:
Read More: Watch: Here Are Some Of The Lesser Known Architectural Wonders Of India
Will this be a good project or something that only sounds good in thought? Let us know in the comments below.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The New Indian Express, The Hindu
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: floating koothambalam kochi, koothambalam, kochi, kochi tourism, kerala tourism, temple theatre, kerala traditional art forms, traditional art forms
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