Malayalam for a stage play – a scripted group drama judged on acting, direction and stagecraft.
Nadakam is Malayalam for “play” or “drama” – the Kerala school Kalolsavam syllabus’s own full-length stage-play item, sitting in the On Stage category alongside its shorter cousins Skit and Mono Act. It is a Team competition only: a full cast rehearses and performs a stage play, and the panel marks the finished production rather than a script submitted in advance.
A performance runs up to 30 minutes with the warning bell at the 29-minute mark, scored out of 100 across four criteria of 25 marks each: Plot, Presentation (Avatharanam), Communication (Samvedanam) and Acting (Abhinayam). It is open to Both genders, and on the mainstream syllabus the language of performance is left to the team rather than fixed to one language.
It is not offered to the youngest school-class category (Category I, LP) at all; it starts at Category II (Upper Primary, classes 5-7) and continues through Category III (High School) and Category IV (Higher Secondary). The combined kalolsavam-all-sections syllabus runs the same item again as dedicated Sanskrit-medium streams (Samskritham UP and HS) and an Arabic-medium stream (Arabic HS), each judged with the identical criteria and 30-minute limit rather than a separate rubric.
Kerala school Kalolsavam runs Nadakam to give a full-length dramatic production its own slot, distinct from the shorter Skit and the solo Mono Act, and distinct again from Chavittu Nadakam – an unrelated folk-theatre item judged on its own Steps/Costume-based criteria despite sharing part of its name.
Where Nadakam is run
Nadakam is verified on the Kerala school Kalolsavam syllabus, identically on eTalenter’s section-by-section kalolsavam-arts-festival template and the combined kalolsavam-all-sections template (the same official item list, not two independent sources), plus the Sanskrit-medium Samskrithotsavam stream, which runs the item at its Upper Primary and High School bands with the same criteria and time limit.
- Kerala, India
Key facts
- Always a Team event, never Individual, in every template in this dataset
- Mixed-gender cast (Both) in every template
- Not offered at Category I (LP, classes 1-4) – starts at Category II (UP) and runs through Category IV (HSS)
- 30 minutes maximum, warning bell at the 29-minute mark, scored out of 100
- Language is open (“Any/NA”) on the mainstream syllabus, with dedicated Sanskrit-medium (Samskritham UP/HS) and Arabic-medium (Arabic HS) streams on the combined syllabus
- A distinct catalogue item from Skit, Mono Act and Chavittu Nadakam – each judged on its own separate criteria
On eTalenter, Nadakam is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 4 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Nadakam is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 30 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Nadakam
What a Nadakam panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Plot – 25 marks: strength and coherence of the story chosen for the stage
- Presentation (Avatharanam) – 25 marks: overall staging – set, blocking and use of the stage
- Communication (Samvedanam) – 25 marks: how clearly the story and its emotion reach the audience
- Acting (Abhinayam) – 25 marks: performance quality of the cast
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Nadakam under Scoring Setup, or start from the full drama & skit judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Nadakam
How entrants and their teachers usually get Nadakam right on the day:
- Rehearse to the full 30-minute run time with the 29-minute warning bell built in, since a production this length loses marks for overrunning
- Give plot development as much rehearsal time as acting – Plot and Acting are weighted equally at 25 marks each
- Work staging and blocking deliberately, not just line delivery – Presentation is judged as its own 25-mark criterion, separate from Acting
- Rehearse projecting emotion and intent to the back of the hall – Communication (Samvedanam) is scored separately from Acting
- Since language is open on the mainstream syllabus, choose the language the cast performs most confidently in rather than defaulting to Malayalam
- If entering a Sanskrit-medium or Arabic-medium stream, confirm which language stream is being judged before rehearsing dialogue
Ready-made event templates that include Nadakam
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic Sahityotsavam (Kerala Schools) | On Stage | Marks | 1 |
| Kerala Kalolsavam – All Sections | On Stage | Marks | 6 |
| Kerala School Kalolsavam | On Stage | Marks | 3 |
| Samskrithotsavam (Kerala Schools) | On Stage | Marks | 2 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Nadakam judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Team entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is Nadakam the same as Skit or Mono Act?
No. Nadakam is Kerala school Kalolsavam’s own full-length stage-play item – up to 30 minutes, Team-only, judged on Plot, Presentation, Communication and Acting. Skit is a shorter, usually comic Team item on a tighter time limit, and Mono Act is performed solo. All three sit in the same On Stage drama family but are separate catalogue items with their own criteria.
Is Nadakam the same as Chavittu Nadakam?
No, despite the shared word. Chavittu Nadakam is a distinct Kerala folk-theatre item judged on its own criteria – Steps (Chuvadu), Song and rhythm, Costume (Vesham), Acting and Presentation. Nadakam is judged only on Plot, Presentation, Communication and Acting, with no steps or costume criterion.
What age groups can enter Nadakam?
On the Kerala school Kalolsavam syllabus it is not offered to the youngest category (LP, classes 1-4); it runs from Category II (Upper Primary) through Category IV (Higher Secondary).
Can Nadakam be performed in any language?
Yes, on the mainstream syllabus language is left open per team. The combined kalolsavam-all-sections syllabus also runs dedicated Sanskrit-medium (Samskritham UP and HS) and Arabic-medium (Arabic HS) streams of the same item, each judged with the same criteria and 30-minute time limit.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full drama & skit judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.
Try Nadakam in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Nadakam, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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