The joy that a viewer experiences when an artiste takes him along, on his artistic journey sharing his vision and thought process, cannot be described easily in words. It was one such experience when Mavin Koo in his performance at Krishna Gana Sabha during the Margazhi festival, explored varied facets of Krishna, with us as his Sahhridaya.
Begining with the popular composition of the Kuchipudi repertoire, ‘Maragadha Manimaya’, Mavin went through the entire Margam without leaving the stage and no verbal introduction to each item. The move from one song was seamless with the artiste immersing himself in the mood of the theme, which kept the viewers engrossed.
The musically rich poetry of Tanjore Quartet’s Varnam ‘Sakhiye indha velayil’ unfolded in all its glory, with the dancer establishing the sthayibhava of the heroine through his facial expressions before moving on to rhythmic explorations. The delineation of the nayika, conveying her angst at the separation from her Lord, was rich in imagery with the dancer depicting in detail the heroine recalling her romantic moments. The description of the peacock feather fluttering on Krishna’s head slowly increasing in speed to torment her was poetic.
It was not just abhinaya segments, but the use of the body also as an expressive tool to portray the emotion of the character added another dimension. The body moving in a coil-like manner to express the state of mind, then taking on the shape of a bow before becoming the arrow of passion that torments the heroine was a masterstroke of movement. The way the mood of the song continued to be maintained even as the tempo was gradually built-up leading to the jathikorvais, made the nritta segments seem like a natural progression of the song. It was a fine blend of emotion and movement that one saw.
The beauty of the form and features of Krishna were captured in the Nilambari composition, ‘Mamava madhava Deva’, before the joy of Krishna’s raas burst forth in the form of a tillana.
The search for Krishna continued in the Ashtapadi ‘Pashyathi Dishi Dishi’. Mavin’s depiction of Radha decorating herself with ornaments was so nuanced that the audience seem to feel the pain when the earring pierced her ear. His involvement with the character was total when he showed Radha removing her anklet bells and covering her head to stealthily go in search of Krishna. The joy of this search for Krishna culminates in their union and was accompanied by the chants of ‘Nath Hare Jagannath Hare’. Truly an intense, fulfilling artistic experience.
Chitra Poornima Satish provided melodic support, Pushkala Gopal wielded the cymbals, Vedakrishna Ram was on mridangam, Ananthakrishnan on veena and Sruti Sagar on flute.
