Danseuse Gopika Varma is all smiles as you compliment her on bagging the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Mohiniyattam dance form. Settling down for a candid conversation, she confides, “It’s taken a decade of diligence and dedication to arrive here. The bulk of my work stands as a testimonial.” Not just on the performance front, but on the creative side as well as imparting the art to the younger generation, she has been working with missionary zeal. “No, not with an eye to any award or recognition,” she is quick to clarify. “My passion for art is my driving force that made for my single-minded pursuit of Mohiniyattam against all odds, possible. Without that zeal, I don’t think any achievement is possible in any field of work.” Very true of a committed artiste who has no other privileges whatsoever. But in the case of Gopika Varma, well, she is the daughter-in-law of the prestigious Kerala royal family and that makes a world of difference.
Patrons of art
“The difference was more in my personal life,” she says wistfully. “I had this penchant for dancing right from childhood. All I wanted to do was to dance; nothing else interested me so much. My mother was also adept in Mohiniyattam. The household into which I married were patrons of art and so I was proclaimed to be very fortunate to be making a home in the royal household which produced great artiste kings like Swati Tirunal. I am fortunate to be blessed with a mother-in-law and other elders in the family who love music and dance and encouraged me in my pursuit. The women of the royal household were all highly erudite and well-versed in music and dance, though they restricted themselves from public performances as it was not the done thing. I should admit that royal households have their own code of conduct that restricts certain freedoms that seem so natural to people outside. I had to toe that line,” she says.
If she was free to perform then, what was the hassle? “I took a sabbatical for a decade due to my own health issues which were medically mismanaged. It was only after my son was born that I decided to gather the threads of my jettisoned life of art and make a comeback. It wasn’t an easy drive. With a fairly long period of absence, you tend to lose confidence. It was an arduous journey which I undertook with grit, faith and blessings of elders. In the process, I took care not to hurt any established norm and not to let my faith in God get shaken. Human effort is limited but divine will is unlimited,” she explains.
Gopika began her dancing lessons at the age of three with her mother as her first guru . She had a great inclination towards Bharatanatyam and learnt the dance form under the tutelage of Vazhoor Ramaiah Pillai’s son Samraj master for 18 years. But she couldn’t resume it after a mishap that took a toll on her health.
So, she decided to go back to Mohiniyattam after the sabbatical and there was no looking back from then. It was not a rocket soar but a steady climb. She began culling out innovative content for Mohiniyattam by working on the ancient Tamil Sangham literature-Purananuru and Akananuru, Kulashekar Azhwar’s divine poetry, Adi Sankaracharya’s divine verses, Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi, rarest of rare kritis of Swati Tirunal, Balarama Bharatam, Harshawardhana, Kavalam Narayana Pannickar, G. Sankara Kurup, Sugata Kumari’s compositions and Sopana Sangeetam, a very popular temple music in Kerala.
She calls herself ‘hardcore’ performer from the year 2002 onwards, a period which saw her give thematic performances amounting to nearly 60 every year, both in India and abroad, especially in the Gulf region. “I’m an avowed soloist and my dance is mostly abhinaya-oriented though I do group choreographies now and then,” she states. She opened her dance institute ‘Dasyam’ in Chennai where she has settled down and also in Bangalore where nearly 250 pupils are into learning Mohiniattam.
Awards were never new to Gopika. She started dancing Mohiniattam from the age of three under her mother’s guidance and bagged Kerala’s first ‘Pushparani’ award at the tender age of three from then Tamil film hero Gemini Ganesan! “The SNA is the ultimate recognition an artiste is bestowed with as it is decided and awarded by a committee full of artistes. It is the ultimate endorsement of my art. I couldn’t have asked for more,” she signs off
Place of eminence
Pasumarthi Ramalinga Sastry
It is heartening to note awards being bestowed on classical dancers who are active in the field. Like Gopika Varma, Pasumarthi Ramalinga Sastry (Kuchipudi) is at the peak of his career in dance.
Pasumarthi is a multi-faceted scholar-artiste in both Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. “I’m indeed elated by this recognition of my contribution to Kuchipudi. I have fulfilled my mentor, Vempati Chinna Satyam’s desire that I should place Kuchipudi dance on a pedestal of eminence with new choreographies culled out of our ancient tradition.”.
But he is also an expert in Bharatanatyam which he teaches at Hyderabad Central University. “Kuchipudi is my ancestral legacy, while Bharatanatyam, which I imbibed for a decade in Kalashetra, Chennai under Rukmini Devi, is my hard-earned property. The twain can never seep into each other, as many fear, at least not in my case. Since my entire village that goes by the dance form’s name comprises families of dancers, it was very natural for me to begin dancing from the age of three.”
At the age of ten, he was a steady performer but had a desire to go toKalakshetra. “I learnt mridangam and Carnatic music along with dance at Kalakshetra which had a telling effect on my choreographies later. The sense of rhythm and knowledge of music is pivotal to dance. I finished my diploma at Kalakshetra and returned to my native state. I never lost touch with Kuchipudi dance form as I used to practice during summer vacations at home.”
Pasumarthi is known for his unique, highly-researched, classical yet topical choreographies. “This art form was essentially dance-drama format. It was never a solo though later masters had imbibed solo format into the system to give it a holistic appeal. I revisited and revived the abandoned mythological ‘Shashirekha Parinayam’ (an episode from Mahabharat) with the help of its music which is present in the All-India Radio archives thankfully. I brought in innovative stage techniques and a cluster of the melodic raga.”
Similarly, he adds, his ancestors were staging Uttara Ramayanam which is full of pathos and somehow they felt the pathos visited their homes too and so gave up this beautiful epic. “There is no Kuchipudi without Ramayana. I revoked it as ‘Ramakatha saram’ (the essence of Rama’s story), wherein I introduced lord Rama’s manifestation through the process of evolution in the universe. It is here that I interlaced the Dasavatar until the advent of Rama and went on to build the main episodes to complete the epic story.”
His ‘Tripati Ganga’ on the sacred river was another milestone production wherein he juxtaposed the eras (Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali yuga) with the maiden Ganga as ‘piya, parakeeya and samana’ nayika and linked the river’s equanimity to present day. “I wanted to bring in a story element to the auspicious start of any dance form – a song in praise of Ganesh. I delved into the mythological significance of lord Ganesh as the eradicator of evil/obstacles and choreographed the ballet, ‘Gajananeeyam’ (origin of Gajanan). ‘Avasyam Swaccha palanam’ (Urgent need for clean good governance) was a very contextual dance drama with a reference to mythology. It was a veiled satire on the present-day political scenario.”
The element of universality is what makes his choreographies valuable pieces of art. Not just the story part, his rhythmic patterns in introducing each and every character make for an amazing dance element whose aesthetics cannot be missed.
