Kalidasa in his play Malavikagnimitram has in a sequence in which two court dance gurus were to present their own disciples in a competition described the outstanding qualities of their disciples. However, the guru of the rival admits that even graceful standing of Malavika was superior to any dancer’s performance! In our time, the Bharatanatyam exponent Malavika Sarukkai, who charmed away Mumbai audience in a recent week long celebrations of her multifaceted presentations, specially organised by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in collaboration with various agencies, proved that the observation of Kalidasa was no exaggeration.
Malavika succeeded in showing through her performances why she excels. Hailing from Mumbai, the graceful and elegant Malavika – a disciple of Kalyansundaram Pillai of Raj Rajeswarai Bharata Natya Kala Mandir, guru Swamimalai Rajratnam Pillai and Kalanidhi Narayanan – indeed cast a spell on the predominantly South Indian audience at Chembur Fine Arts Society with her choice solo numbers.
Swati Tirunal’s Somasayaka varnam was an essay, revealing the grandeur of Bharatanatyam, its exquisite music and layapramanam, the challenging laya, rhythm, and poetic allusions. The shower of flowery arrows unleashed by Kamadeva found imaginative approach in Malavika’s delineation. Fond of environmental issues, Malavika presented specially commissioned poem on a woman who could not bear children, found in the rumblings of the earth the sensation of growing trees. The amazing story of Timanna who nurtured trees, was indicative of Malavika’s search for contemporary issues.
But the icing on the cake was the composition on Krishna, Gopis playing rasalila and as the quotation from Harivamsa text ascribed to unknown poet, Krishna multiplies himself for each Gopi, came alive as seen in a pichwai (wall hanging ) painting. The finale saw Malavika creating images of Krishna with his innumerable epithets transforming herself into the devotee who led audience to witness the indescribable beauty of the magic flute player. The trance like state of Malavika was experienced by the audience who stood up as one man and gave her a standing ovation.
Among the audience was her first guru Kalyansudaram Pillai who blessed her for scaling such artistic heights.
The second evening was screening of the film “The Unseen Sequence” directed by Sumantra Ghoshal. Refreshing in its genre of biopic, it highlights the single minded focus of Malavika while rehearsing her dance relentlessly. Her only companion is her mother Saroja Kamakshi who watches the rehearsals, they discuss and interact. Sumantra has succeeded in capturing magical moments, interspersing them with actual performance. The opening sequence of Malavika offering prayers dancing in sannidhi of Chidambaram temple, devotees unconcerned about her dance, going for darshan, Malavika performing with complete concentration, the camera captures those expressions without making Malavika conscious of the shooting.
One more sequence is of Malavika moving the handle round the gong creating resonances. It becomes a metaphor for her dance which creates resonances. Layered, rich with poetic conceits, Malavika’s dances of evening aarti (prayer) in Kashi, and the sound of the bell and her stamping of the feet recreate the ambience of Banaras. The death of a son of a courtesan, the setting of the sun are shifts in the thematic content. The film shows how Malavika copes up with her schedules and planning of dance after her mother passes away. It succeeds in unfolding the life of a dancer to whom nothing matters except dance.
The lec-dem at The Museum showed Malavika in her reflective mood. Her approach to dance, inter- relationship between sculpture and dance, how she looks at the space surrounding her, how sculptures come alive et al were demonstrated with one composition of Swati on Padmanabha. Malavika ‘s observations in terms of how to feel the monumentality of sculpture and its grace, the pataka hasta offering blessing, how gentle it should be, the serpent when encircles Lord Shiva, one has to feel it to convey to audience.
One was looking forward to see her group choreography. Alas, I missed it. I will have to catch up with that in future to assess Malavika’s gifts for group choreography. The final session was workshop and interaction with dancers who had registered for workshop. Malavika explained what space means for dancers. She explained how to practice adavus , the basic dance units of Bharatanatyam, feel the energy, and when the entire body is charged, practice done for hours and years how one transcends the technique and enjoys performing dance.
