A very rare of Indian Classical dance is Kathakali. It is rare because traditionally speaking Kathakali was performed only by male dancers. However, with the growing popularity of this dance form and the creativity involved for the dancers even Women were seen participating in it. Earlier, the character of a woman was played by a male artist. Other than that, the make-up done on the dancers is also very different and colorful; even music and lyrics style is different.

Kathakali was initiated by King Kottarakara Thampuran of Kottarakara in Kerala. So it is but obvious that the script for Kathakali is in Malayalam. It was then known as Ramanaattam, as it is based on the life of Lord Rama. However, it can also be on themes like Mahabharata. Originally, this dance form was performed during the nights till morning during festivals. It was an entertaining way of thinking of Lord Rama the entire night. However, as it got more publicity and came out of Kerala it was done during the day time as a mean of promoting the dance form further. However, still in South of India, Kathakali is done from late night to morning.

It is observed in Kathakali there are various Good, bad and evil characters. These characters can be recognized by the color of their face. The dancer playing Lord Rama would have his face painted in green, While the one playing Ravana (the evil demon with good family background) is painted in green too but has red horizontal stripes on the face. All female characters are painted with yellow color.