Four ageless wonders
ANJANA RAJAN
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Unforgettable performances by veteran dancers placed a feather in the Sangeet Natak Akademi's beleaguered cap.
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PHOTOS: S. SUBRAMANIUM.
VINTAGE CHARM: Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair.
The festival of classical dance by elderly stalwarts, the Nritya Nidhi (Treasures of Indian Dance) Utsav, which concluded in New Delhi this past week, was one of the finest activities the Sangeet Natak Akademi could have planned. In a week when the controversy surrounding the Chairperson Sonal Mansingh and SNA's General Council members, besides some officials, continued to rage, the classical arts and artistes - often dismissed by serious journalists as being irrelevant to India's globalised present - made it to more pages of `hard news' than they might have cared to count.
However that may be, the atmosphere in Kamani auditorium, the festival venue, was one of harmony, serenity and those inklings of eternity that inspired artistes and their audiences are privileged to catch a glimpse of.
On the first two days, winding queues long before show time and a locked gate bearing the brunt of the throngs that could not get in were proof of a rare display of public response to a classical dance event. Even the close circuit screen set up at SNA's Meghdoot theatre could not appease those not allowed in, as they complained they had come to see a live show. By the third and fourth days, however, when Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma and Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair performed, Delhiites seemed to have calmed down, and the auditorium was not bursting.
Youngest at 67
Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj, who opened the festival, was the youngest dancer at 67. As always, he brought the house down with his unique mode of presentation that is admired by many, emulated with success by few. His presentation of Teen tala and Dhamar tala were by turns subtle and powerful. Besides his `Makhan Chori' depicting the exploits of Krishna the butter thief, a piece that delights many for his rather earthy depiction of the child Krishna, he presented a moving rendition of Krishna's conversation with his friend Uddhav, in which Krishna, as king of Dwaraka, confides his grief at leaving his beloved Braj. Another old favourite associated with the maestro, it was here that Birju Maharaj reminded us of his stature, the grandeur of his art, the subtlety of glance and posture, song and movement that brings a tear to the eye. It was a rendition befitting his exalted place among the all-time greats of Indian dance. The orchestra added to the effect. With Utpal Ghoshal on the tabla, Chandrachur Bhattacharya on the sitar, Jai Kishan Maharaj on the pakhawaj and Deepak Maharaj providing parhant, the team yielded some wonderful moments. Vocalist Debashish Sarkar also gave a fine performance, and it was soothing to hear him blend with Birju Maharaj's voice whenever the maestro sang the beginning lines of his abhinaya pieces, as per tradition.
Vyjayanthimala
Meditative
If Birju Maharaj had the audience eating out of his hands, Vyjayanthimala on the second day seemed to have swallowed up the hall, such was the stillness as she presented a marathon choreographic interpretation of the Carnatic music composition, the ragam-tanam-pallavi. Based on the story of the birth of Krishna, she set the first part, the elaboration of the raga alap, in a shloka-type setting without overt rhythm. This was set to a ragamalika, and superb singing by Preeti Mahesh was a befitting accompaniment to the absorbed abhinaya as the veteran dancer depicted the atmosphere that preceded the advent of Krishna and the drama surrounding his removal from the jail to the safety of Yashoda's home. Later, in the pallavi portion, another highly memorable episode was the depiction of the Cowherd God coming home all dusty as the cows raised clouds on the dirt roads. The jati in Khanda chapu was notable for the way a relatively fixed rhythm was manipulated to bring variety. Vyjayanthimala was ably backed up by Saraswati on the nattuvangam, Ramakrishnan on the mridangam and Sivaraman on the violin.
No language gap
Seventy-one-year-old Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma bridged the language barrier with his eloquent, graceful portrayal of Satyabhama - one of his classic roles - in the scene where the lonely queen sends the Sutradhar as a messenger to Krishna with the request to come to her. The humour of the situation, where she devises various means to describe her Lord without committing the indiscretion of speaking his name, came out well, with the Sutradhar, played by Chinta Sri Ramamurthy, showing appropriate opacity of perception.
PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY.
SECRET OF SUCCESS: Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma (right) as Satyabhama.
The curtain came down on the festival with Kathakali by the 80-year-old Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, who chose the character of Ravan, first in the shringar mode with Mandodari (played by Kalamandalam Kuttykrishnan) and then in a dialogue with Narad (Kalamandalam Balasubrahmaniam) as the latter instigates him to fight Vali. These were excerpts from the play "Bali Vijaya" by the 19th Century poet Kallur Nambudiripad. With subtle interactions and attention to detail, the cast, ably supported by Madambi Subrhamanian Namboodiri and Kalamandalam Sree Kumar (vocal), Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan (chenda) and Kalamandalam Ramankutty (maddalam) evoked humour, bringing out Ravan's ridiculous position with restraint. It struck one that all the dancers at the festival could be made worthy ambassadors for HelpAge India.
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