Choreographer Shashidharan Nair is a man of many parts. As he speaks of his new production, to be premiered in New Delhi this Thursday, one glimpses the layers of influence that have shaped him as an artist — somewhat like children’s parentage can be gleaned from their facial features, mannerisms and personality traits.
The production, “Parasurama: The Axe Wielding Rama — the legend of the sixth avatar of Vishnu”, is Nair’s first under his own banner. Otherwise, he is well known on Delhi’s cultural scene due to his association with Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra under director Shobha Deepak Singh. Since the early 1980s, he has had long stints with the institution, joining as a repertory artist and going on to become choreographer and often principal dancer of its popular ballets.
Like many serious stage projects, Nair’s “Parasurama…” is a product of several years of thought and internalisation. On what attracted him to the theme, he remarks that he played the role of the mythological character in SBKK’s productions of the Ramayana as well as in the ballet “Karna”.
“I was so interested in this character,” he says. “Not many have done it in depth.” When he performed Parasurama as a relatively minor character, people often told him that the robust, angry and somewhat ferocious role suited Nair as a dancer. Now with his own production, he has developed Parasurama as the central character.
Having started his dance career in his native Kerala almost five decades ago, Nair has charted a rich journey through a number of movement languages. It began with Kathakali when in his early years he trained under Kalamandalam K. Padmanabhan Nair and later under Kavungal Sankaran Kutty Paniker. In “Parasurama”, Nair has made extensive use of this training.
“I’ve already worked a lot with Mayurbhanj Chhau (in previous productions),” he mentions. “This time I used more Kathakali, but I have also tried to extend the space covered by its movements. Also, we have used Kathakali rhythms.”
Following the myth
Choreographers are sometimes drawn to ‘contemporising’ mythological themes, drawing overt parallels to current affairs. “No, I just followed the myth. I was inspired by this character. Somebody who alone can bring to an end the (evil) Kshatriyas 21 times,” says Nair, referring to the Pauranic tales of how the motive behind this incarnation was to destroy the warrior class that had forsaken its duty to protect the people and instead was exploiting and tormenting them.
Staging mythological tales with choreographic excellence, but without obviously questioning the narrative is an approach he is experienced in from before his Delhi days. As a member of the Little Ballet Troupe, where he was mentored by pioneering choreographers Prabhat Ganguly and Gul Bardhan, Nair took part in LBT’s popular “puppet” Ramayana. Choreographed and first presented in 1953 by Shanti Bardhan, among the most influential artists of modern India’s cultural revival, the LBT’s Ramayana, performed by human dancers dressed and moving like puppets, is still performed today and remains a path-breaking and relevant production for dancers and audiences.
As for Parasurama, Nair adds that he is believed to have introduced to the world Kalaripayattu, the martial art indigenous to Kerala, in which too Nair is trained. “When we do the Kalari namaskar, we remember Parasurama and Vyasa,” explains Nair. “Bhishma, Drona, Karna, they have all been his (Parasurama’s) students. Kalari is considered the mother of martial arts. Kung Fu and other martial arts came later. I’ve used Kalari in this production too.”
With some 28 to 30 dancers on stage, says the choreographer, there are hardly any female roles, other than Parasurama’s mother Renuka, and Sita the wife of Rama, the incarnation to whom Parasurama relinquishes his place. However, there are female dancers as sutradhars, he adds. While Nair essays the central role, his supporting dancers are members of the Indian Revival Group headed by Yog Sundar and his daughter Papiha Desai. Nair has a longstanding association with veteran choreographer Yog Sundar, under whom he has imbibed traditional Indian dance forms. “I’ve also taken help from the Kalari Centre in Delhi to train the dancers,” he adds.
The project is also supported by music composed by Madhav Prasad, with rhythms provided by musicians from the International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi. The light design is by Sharad Kulshrestha. The production, designed, directed and choreographed by Shashidharan Nair with financial support from the Ministry of Culture, is being presented under the aegis of Kalavedi. “Kalavedi was started by my grandfather and other elders in our village in Trichur,” he explains.
It was at Kalavedi that Nair got his initial training. When the guiding lights of the institution died, it became defunct. “Recently, I and my friends from Kalavedi decided to revive it. Classes in various dance forms have started in Trichur again. We want to offer to other youngsters the chance that we got.”
And so the cycle continues.
“ Parasurama: The Axe Wielding Rama — the legend of the sixth avatar of Vishnu”, August 17, Shriram Centre, Safdar Hashmi Marg, New Delhi, 7 p.m.
