Now Gita Govinda on DD
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SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY speaks to Odissi dancer Ranjana Gauhar about "Gita Govinda," her new show based on Jaidev's masterpiece, soon to be aired on Doordarshan Bharati.
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Photo: S.Subramanium.
Re-enacting Jaidev's masterwork... Ranjana Gauhar in New Delhi.
JAIDEV'S MAGNUM opus Gita Govinda is a work that almost all Indian classical dancers surely would have enacted. But seeing Odissi dancer Ranjana Gauhar talking about it, you at once sense it is so singular to her. That she has indeed spent some significant moments floating on its nuances. Her big, roving eyes paired with that inscrutable smile of a gopi and the animated hand movements as she speaks about it, gives a clear signal to it.
And that absolutely is the explanation Ranjana herself gives for a tele-show "Gita Govinda" that she is at present busy shooting for Doordarshan Bharati.
"It has always been special to me. For that matter, to any Odissi dancer. It is so sensual, so spiritual, so philosophical. I always wanted to do a tele-show on it. It is nice that Doordarshan has realised the importance of showing such a programme. I hope our youngsters take a look at it. It is so important for them because very few good programmes come on television now," says Ranjana. Having already started shooting for it from the first week of March, the show, she states, would be a serialised narrative and completed in five episodes.
"But what is unusual about it is, the show is being shot at Konark temple in Orissa. All the artists in it are Oriyas and even the technical crew is from that state," explains Ranjana.
Just back from one round of shooting in Orissa, the well-known Delhi-based danseuse would show as episodes of the actors' real life, their rehearsals, the show enactment, in the times of the poet highlighting its philosophy and uniqueness testifying as to how Gita Govinda is relevant to our times.
"We will use the dialogues as a device to link the different levels of the show, to carry the story forward, discussing the issues central to it," she adds.
And being deep into the masterpiece already as a dancer, she didn't have to concentrate much on its research. "I knew already what I wanted to show. As a dancer, it has definitely helped in having an edge over anybody else doing it," feels the lady who has won the Padma Shri too.
A filmmaker
Her dancing skills apart, for Ranjana, camera is also nothing new to happen to her. She had filmed a documentary "The Celestial dancer in the temple of Jagannath" for the Ford Foundation and also did a film depicting the cultural relations of India with Vietnam and Cambodia - "Nectar in Stone" for the Ministry of External Affairs.
"If you ask me, what is next, I would not be able to tell you exactly what because I want to do so much more. I want to do something which nobody has done so far and I have a few ideas already in my mind," says Ranjana. As to Geet Govinda's telecast dates, she gives a not so sure answer, "It depends on Doordarshan." Well, so be it. We shall wait.
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