Celebrating the unsung heroes of regional literature, Day 2 of Hyderabad Literary Festival ended on a high note, thanks to a mesmerising performance by one of India’s finest exponents of Bharatanatyam, Leela Samson. The 70-minute recital Past Forward was a celebration of music and movement showcased through beautiful verses in regional languages, interweaving a rich mélange of prose, poetry and music.
With the heritage precincts of Hyderabad Public School as backdrop, the riveting recital was a packed affair, with students and volunteers settling for the lawns after the chairs were full to ensure that they were a part of a celebration of love and liberation. With six dancers from her troupe and clad in a resplendent cream and green ensemble, Leela Samson delved deep into the treasure trove of Indian poetry and choreographed a performance stitched with small features based on works of Indian greats like Purandara Das, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Kalidasa amongst others.
Making her appearance 12 minutes into the show, in an interpretation of Kalidasa’s Kumarasambhava , the Padma Shri winner demonstrated her diverse range through the many roles she played. She transformed into Goddess Ganga effortlessly, showcasing the mighty river’s magic and mystique, portrayed the pride and pain of Radha (in a composition by Pandit Jasraj) with her majestic mudras and expressive eyes and as a testament to her diverse range, matched steps to 300 year old Urdu couplets in the final segment of the act. Her troupe complemented her wonderfully, with their perfect synchronisation integrating seamlessly with Samson’s grace. Bringing to life many unfamiliar verses from classical texts, the recital transcended the divisions of language and time, presenting them to a new audience centuries after the couplets were initially written.
Undoubtedly the premise of the show was to showcase different languages and dig out hidden gems of Indian literature lost due to the overwhelming importance given to English prose and poetry – Purandara Das in Kannada, Diskhitar and Kalidasa in Sanskrit and Jayadeva in Tamil.
One of the show’s highlights, was when the danseuse along with her troupe, performed the Ganga aarti with diyas and temple bells transporting the audience to the gentle ghats of Kasi or Haridwar.
The show started and ended promptly on time, proving that precision and punctuality go hand in hand. One must mention the excellent usage of stage by the dancers as well as the lighting which ensured that the expressions of artistes could be interpreted easily by the audience.
The finale Kinare Kinare brought together both poetry and prose as well as Hindustani and classical music ensuring that both the grey haired and teenagers present could visualise and understand the aesthetic panorama unfolding in front of them. Yes, there was an odd phone ringing or gaggle of youngsters passing through the open ground but the performance did achieve what everything associated with art sets out to do – create a spellbinding connection between the performance and its audience.
The light breeze, the vintage aura of the almost century-old School premises and the exceptional performance ensured that the festival was punctuated perfectly by Leela Samson’s magical interpretation of ancient poetry.
Attention on rich literature
“Sometimes literature festivals are about everything but literature, so I wanted to draw attention towards the rich literature in our history, not so much me or the dance itself,” remarks Leela Samson when asked if this particular recital, which was unlike anything she has done before, was conceived for a reason before adding, “The dance and performance were just tools to draw attention towards the beauty of the poems and if you listen to them, you realise the depth in them, their beauty and the intricacy of the raaga , something, I feel sad many people don’t enjoy or are even aware of.”
The legendary danseuse says that she has deliberately incorporated pieces from different languages (Tamil, Kannada and Urdu) and genres (devotional and mythological) to honour lesser-known Indian authors lost amongst a pantheon of English poets and writers.
Elaborating on it she muses, “Personally, being at a literature festival made me focus on language and diversity, And it doesn’t get any better than performing to poets like Kalidasa!”
Calling it a tragedy that Indian students grow up learning Shakespeare and ignorant about their own great poets, she remarks, “I would have loved to have learnt Jayadeva, while growing up but didn’t. Because I come from the dance world, I have access to all these wonderful pieces of prose and poetry. Why can’t every Indian child have access to them? Why can’t you enjoy Tagore, whom we know and revere as Gurudev but are clueless about his works? At least he is translated into some languages but look at the other unknown greats like Manipuri or Tamil authors, Dalit poets and women writers, we have to translate and understand them. Translation should happen in Indian languages, from Manipuri to Bengali or Tamil to Assamese.
It is important for these voices to be heard as they are all a part of India and they have spoken about the angst for the country.”
As she makes her way to her car, we ask her one final question. What keeps her going at 65? To conceptualise pieces, practice and perform with her troupe?
“The love and affection of my audiences.” she signs off regally.
