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Ashim has a knack for simplifying the trickiest episodes.

Instead of a straightforward treatment of the life of Lord Krishna, “Vasudev” seeks to contemplate on how Krishna himself would have reacted to his own deeds. Looking back on his own life, while he might have derived satisfaction from remembering feats such as subduing the serpent Kaliya, or saving the inhabitants of Gokul from Indra’s storm fury by lifting Mount Govardhan, he might have felt remorse for some of his actions, since not all could be called strictly honourable. Particularly the means he resorted to during the Kurukshetra war to help the cause of Dharma, and the treatment meted out to Karna, a Kshatriya by birth condemned to live as an outcaste as a result of the silence of those who knew his real identity.

By attempting too challenging a task, the choreographer was in a short production trying to catch far too large a canvas. From the Brindavan romancer to the War Lord of Kurukshetra, and the final death of Krishna at the hands of Jara the hunter, the range of acts and the innumerable moods of Krishna as revealed made the one-hour production too miserly in terms of details. And to add to the massive task — rather like catching the waters of the sea in a teacup — was the contemplating Krishna, a dimension that required quiet moments that the fast moving production could not allow.

Ashim has a knack for simplifying the trickiest episodes. Notable were the Kaliadaman sequence, Karna’s humiliation, the dice scene, which were effectively caught in tight slots. Dancers used veils of different colours held in the hands in suggestive ways in scenes.

Debashish Ghosh’s music is well conceived. But the scene of Kamsa being killed and a few of the really strongly dramatic moments, thanks to being pared down to just essentials, became simplistic. The reflective moments needed for a Krishna reminiscing about his deeds is missing.

The student dancers have been well trained, though quite a few need to fight the battle of the bulge with greater determination.

There was one unusual strand woven into the production of Krishna desiring Draupadi. “Did I let loose hatred, unhappiness and death and destruction of a whole dynasty? How am I still considered as Purushottama?” asks the god of himself.

Costumes, befitting a creation looking at Krishna from the human angle, were simple and avoided tawdry ostentation.

An unusual angle to the Krishnavatar and one which demands a more fitting treatment in a dance creation, the idea deserves praise.

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