The struggle and the sacrifices of those who fought for our Independence was the theme of Natyarangam’s annual dance festival. Titled ‘Thyaga Bharatham,’ this year’s edition, in a marked departure from the usual solo or duo format, chose four dancers to conceptualise works based on the lives of some national leaders.
Theme: Mahatama Gandhi
Artistes: C.P. Satyajit, Keerthana Ravi, Sadhashi Baskar, Sivadas Rajan
All four forms of abhinaya — angika, vaachika, aharya and satvika were the modes of communication Gandhiji used to create sahridyas and satyagrahis to fulfill hisvision of Ramrajya. First day’s presentation related facets of everyday life, from Bapu’s time to the present. Though the presentation attempted to free the audience from expectations of linear narrative or sentiments of any kind, every work of art needs to resonate with the audience and that is where the problem arose. While the effort to move away from a stereotypical portrayal of Gandhi must be acknowledged, the presentation seemed to be a work in progress. Violence was projected by three dancers tapping bamboo sticks and uttering syllables of a mallari — tat dhi tom nom. A discordant note occured when the singer joined in with jatis in a different pitch. Repetition of this took away from the impact . When the protagonist, (Satyajit in a nuanced portrayal) urged everyone to look deep into themselves with the song ‘Jag me bura na koi’ playing in the background, it did strike a chord , but briefly.
Theme: Jhansi Ki Rani
Aishwarya Nityananda, Janani Murali, Manjula Amaresh, Poornima Kaushik
The colourful turban-wearing members of the orchestra set the mood for the story of Jhansi Rani Lakshmibai on the second day. Presented by four Bengaluru-based dancers , it began with a depiction of Ganga, then went onto Manikarnika’s childhood, marriage, widowhood and fight against the British. The choreography allowed each dancer to play the role of Lakshmibai in separate segments. However, frequent nritta interludes and the loud accompanying music disturbed the narration. The sequences of training in warfare, Lakshmibai’s grief over losing her husband and son, prayer scene, were well conceived and enacted.
Theme: V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, Bhagat Singh and Subhashchandra Bose
Artistes: Manjari, Prithvija Balagopalan, Uttiya Barua, Sarveshan Kumar
The thoughts expressed by Makhanlal Chaturvedi in his popular Hindi poem ‘Chah Nahi’ formed the leitmotif of the third day’s presentation. The poem is about a flower and what it desires. It doesn’t want to be part of a woman’s ornament or an offering of love, or thrown at the feet of emperors or adorn deities, instead it wants to be strewn in the path of martyrs.
Left with a theme without a strong narrative, the artistes strung together incidents from the lives of these freedom fighters. The production had enough captivating sequences such as the shadow play of a ship to establish VOC’s identity and his travails in prison established by the oil press sequence; a folk song sung by the mother to arouse patriotism in her son Bhagat Singh; simple use of costumes that were suggestive of the geographical terrain traversed by Bose and a blue fabric stretched across the screen under which Bose moved to suggest his submarine travel. Aiding the visuals was a rich soundscape by a team of talented artistes. The use of the ‘Simon go back’ call as a jathikorvai was impressive. The well co-ordinated movements of the dancers and seamless flow of segments added to the experience.
Theme: Chhatrapati Shivaji
Artistes; Vaibhav Arekar, Swarada Bhave, Ruta Gokhale, N. Sacchidanand
Day four focussed on Chhatrapati Shivaji. Barring segments on his childhood and spiritual quest, the show was dominated by fast movements and energetic footwork capturing the valour, conquests and victory marches to the echoes of ‘Har Har Mahadev’ . The dancers tapped their hands on the wooden floor to evoke sounds of horses’ hoofs. The segment depicting Shivaji’s dilemma in choosing between a spiritual path and warfare lingered on in the mind due to Vaibhav Arekar’s abhinaya prowess. One wished there were more such segments to add interest to a narrative that focussed on warfare rather than his persona . The repetitive movements of riding horses would have been more effective if variations in choreographic patterns had been incorporated. The ensemble of talented musicians seemed to dominate the proceedings at times.
Theme: Veerapandia Kattabomman
Artistes; Sheejith Krishna, Nidheesh Kumar, Rajamally B, Aiswarya Lakshmi G
The influence of Kalakshetra, his Alma Mater was evident in the way the production was choreographed by Sheejith Krishna. It was in natyanadakam mode. The introductory scene set like a varnam felt overstretched , but the interest was revived with the dramatic entry of Kattabomman (Sheejith) and Oomathurai (Nidheesh) from behind a thiraiseelai. Various episodes from his life unfolded in quick succession. In the ‘Kisti’ scene made popular by Sivaji Ganesan, the use of a British flag on a chair to depict Jackson Durai was an innovative touch as was the alternate use of western notes and Indian ragas to show the British and Indian warriors. But the use of ‘Union Jack Angavastrams’ seemed contrived; dropping the angavastrams on stage to denote character change could have been more aesthetically executed. The final flag-hoisting scene accompanied by the singing of the National Anthem was confusing. Did those hoisting the flag represent today’s audience acknowledging Kattabomman’s sacrifice or were they his contemporaries. The music was a mix of classical and folk (kummi).
