A nostalgic trip to the Epic land

Gayathri’s Ramayana was a fitting tribute to Krishnaveni Lakshmanan

November 30, 2017 03:54 pm | Updated 03:54 pm IST

 Gayatri Krishnaveni Lakshmanan, Founder of Krishnadhwani School of Natya, along with her team of 45 dancers staged ‘Jai Sri Rama’ an adaptation from Goswami Tulsidas’s Ram Charita Manas at Narada Gana Sabha

Gayatri Krishnaveni Lakshmanan, Founder of Krishnadhwani School of Natya, along with her team of 45 dancers staged ‘Jai Sri Rama’ an adaptation from Goswami Tulsidas’s Ram Charita Manas at Narada Gana Sabha

A child’s voice singing the Hanuman Chalisa set the tone and mood for the magnificent epic – The Ramayana at the Narada Gana Sabha on November 24. The poignant rendering of the Chalisa was only a prelude to an offering that is different each time it is done. The emotional connect and the familiarity of the story, never pall no matter what.

in that context, the ‘Jai Sri Ram’ performed by Gayathri Krishnaveni Lakshmanan, Founder, Krishnadhwani School of Natya along with close to 45 dancers from different banis, was all about this beloved story — bhakti, truth and dharma. And to encapsulate the entirety with really judicious editing and imagery, is no mean task. Others have done it and many will continue to do so, but this production stood out for the reasons it was done in the first place.

Similar theme

To start with, it was a tribute to one of the renowned and missed artists - Krishnaveni Lakshmanan or the Eternal Sita of all Kalashetra productions. And the tribute comes from a daughter who grew up watching her mother play this role. Now that her mother is no longer physically present, the spirit of her artistry prevails bringing with it feelings of nostalgia and sadness of some sort. So, the daughter now plays the role of Sita but adapts it from Tulsidas’s Ramcharitramanas, which is similar yet different. Finally, and not least in the emotional connect, the two and half hour production was done to help children from Anbu Karangal, Kottivakkam.

Gayathri is also the disciple of Krishnaveni Lakshmanan and is trained in Carnatic Vocal and veena at Kalakshetra. She has had the special guidance of Sharada, Sarada Hoffman and Prof. N. S. Jayalakshmi. She has also learnt folk dances and Kalaripayattu and underwent a course on the Karanas from Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam.

Starting with the Bala Kandam, the production went through the Ayodhya, Aaranya, Kishkinda, Sundara and the Yuddha Kandams with each episode rendered crisp and racy - something essential when one wants to tell the whole story without stretching the patience of the audience. It is impossible to dwell on every aspect much as one would like to. For instance, in Kishkinda Kandam, the Vali/Sugriva fight was done mostly with sound effects and music. In that manner, the Ramayana was covered in the time specified.

Many of the dancers come from different schools of Bharatanatyam and while there were indifferent patches of natya and bhava, there were moments that fulfilled the grammar and symmetry of the dance form through all the story telling. Playing the character of Ravana(Ganapathy Subramaniam) with lots of Kathakali influences, produced a character that was memorable - a bit impersonal, somewhat demonic and finally the catalyst in fulfilling the karmas of all those involved in the Great War.

Portrayed with aplomb

Similarly, the dancers — Rama (Mithun Shyam), Lakshman (Harshavardhan) and Hanuman (Ashik) all students of Padmini Ramachandran from Bangalore — were consistent in the demonstration of competence and vigour. A student (Rukhshana), student of Elora Bora from Assam portrayed Kaikeyi and Surpanakha with aplomb and finesse. Manali Bora playing Mareecha/ the Golden Deer was done with a touch of innocence, yet revealing wily demeanour.

What this production threw up were some startling patches of excellence, while the rest of the proceedings provided the foil for this aspect. Clearly the mood of the entire production was about a memory and a recreation of a bygone time. One needs to see this in this perspective.

Costumes of every hue and tone punctuated the scenes – the riot of colours filling the stage with a vibrancy that appealed to an audience, who were there for the reasons mentioned earlier and also for the love of the great epic. Every emotion that each scene generated, resonated deeply with the audience. They empathised, delighted and allowed bhakti to be the paramount element for that evening.

With resource and choreography by Gayathri, the sound track consisted of musicians - violin – TK Padmanbahan, music-Seetarama Sarma, vocal-Radha Badri and A.S. Murali, mridangam- Adyar K Gopinath, nattuvangam-Neela Sukanya, flute-T Sashidhar, veena-T Bhavani Prasad - all of whom provided very good support to the proceedings.

Important inputs from Parthasarthy (special effects), Sivakumar-SS Dressers (costume), K Murugan, Kannan (make-up), Murugan (lights). Gayathri’s work also benefited from the inputs of Dr. Sudha Seshayyan and Prof. Kamakshi Subramanyam.

Says Gayathri, “My mother played Sita for close to 30 years at Kalashetra where I grew up. It is a very meaningful and memory-filled journey for me. This took almost two years to hone and this is a tribute to her. But I went for a slightly different look by involving fresh artistes and also taking up an adaptation of Tulsidas’s version. And doing something for the cause of children is very dear to me. For me it’s a first.” And a laudable first it is.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.