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The actor is going through a long self-applied make-up procedure to prepare for his Kathakali dance performance.

Kathakali has traditionally been performed in temples and palaces, but over the past century it also finds venues in post-harvest paddy fields and, since the last few decades, in proscenium stages of public halls/auditoria and even in pagentry shows (in bits) of late.

The name Kathakali derives from the Malayalam words "katha" (meaning: religious story) and "kali" (meaning: play or performance)

Kathakali is considered to be a combination of five elements of fine art:

Expressions (Natyam, the component with emphasis on facial expressions)
Dance (Nritham, the component of dance with emphasis on rhythm and movement of hands, legs and body)
Enactment (Nrithyam, the element of drama with emphasis on "mudras", which are hand gestures)
Song/vocal accompaniment (Geetha)
Instrument accompaniment (Vadyam)

Traditionally there are 101 classical Kathakali stories, though the commonly staged among them these days total less than one-third that number. Almost all of them were initially composed to last a whole night. Nowadays, there is increasing popularity for concise, or oftener select, versions of stories so as the performance lasts not more than three to four hours from evening. Thus, many stories find stage presentation in parts rather than totality.

A Kathakali actor uses immense concentration, skill and physical stamina, gained from regimented training based on Kalaripayattu, the ancient martial art of Kerala, to prepare for his demanding role. The training can often last for 8-10 years, and is intensive. In Kathakali, the story is enacted purely by the movements of the hands (called mudras or hand gestures) and by facial expressions (rasas) and bodily movements. The expressions are derived from Natyashastra (the tome that deals with the science of expressions) and are classified into nine as in most Indian classical art forms. Dancers also undergo special practice sessions to learn control of their eye movements.

(extract from Wikipedia)