HYDERABAD: Noted musician Chitravina N Ravikiran is immensely pleased to orchestrate his first-ever Telugu production,‘Almighty Trinity’, choreographed by classical singer and dancer Smitha Madhav, to be staged in Hyderabad this Sunday. A brainchild of Ravikiran, the production would have been staged in the US in association with Vempati Chinna Satyam and team (all the production work being ready by then), but for the latter's health issues.
The seed idea behind the project was planted by Ravikiran’s friend in Washington DC who wanted him to work on a production centred on the trinity of Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. While Ravikiran got busy with productions like Lakshmi Prabhavam, Ramayana and the Mahabharata with stalwarts like Birju Maharaj and P V Chandrasekhar, a meeting with Smitha Madhav in early 2016 convinced him to revive ‘Almighty Trinity’ all over again.
“I was sure she could handle this, her proficiency in multiple languages was the deciding factor,” he says.
Talking of the concerted efforts he puts in to make sure his production themes aren’t lost in translation, the Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner mentions, “I compose only when I feel inspired and I do my best to visualise it from a basic level. That’s where the choreographer works with me closely. In the case of Smitha, it was not only about the hard work and efforts but also her creative inputs and diligence that made all the difference. We always do our best, but how it comes alive on stage, is left to the almighty.”
Meanwhile, he’s mighty pleased with the quality of musicians he got to work for ‘Almighty Trinity’, from the likes of Anahita, Apoorva Ravindran, Vignesh Iswar, Aditya Narayanan (vocals) to the likes of Guru Bharadwaj, Sruthi Sagar (mridangam) and Palakkad Sreeram (flute ).
“What we did was also to instil dramatic value to the production without diluting its essence,” he adds.
With art as such, he says 90 per cent of the idea should be doing his/her duty to perfection with the other 10 per cent directed in making the effort reach out to the audience. “But, reaching out to the audience should never intend a compromise,” he's quick to clarify.
The mind behind the award-winning concept of ‘Melharmony’,opines that the spiritual element is inherent in the themes he chooses; the connect and the impact varies from individual to individual. “For me spirituality is doing things to the best of my abilities,” he says. He clarifies that his achievements such as his 25-hour concert in the 80s and setting the ‘Tirukkural’ to tune under 16 hours earlier this year, came about as his thanksgiving opportunities to God.
“In the first case, it was my humble musical offering where I didn’t feel the need to eat, drink at the temple until an 80-plus family friend of mine requested me to drink a glass of milk. With the tuning of ‘Tirukkural’ though, (that I’d initially announced would be done in 50 hours) I just wanted things to remain transparent.”
