Natyarangam remembered poet Subramania Bharati on September 11, his 97th death anniversary, through ‘Bharati Shakti’ a thematic dance presentation with four dancers — Indu Nideesh, Nideesh Kumar, Shweta Prachande and Pranathi Ramadurai — under the auspices of Saroja Vaidyanathan Endowment.
The programme was introduced beautifully by resource person and script writer, Isaikkavi Ramanan. Bharati saw the primordial energy Sakti in every atom of the universe. Everything everywhere was nothing but Sakti for him. He revered womanhood as Sakti.
Suitable songs
Ramanan had selected the most suitable songs to bring out the character of the great poet and freedom fighter. The introductory piece was presented by all the four artistes. Thus we had in the first segment, Goddess Saraswati playing pranks with the young boy and an adolescent being blessed by Goddess Lakshmi. This part was done by Nideesh with Pranathi and Shweta as the Devis. The next segment showed Indu and Nideesh enacting the role of young lovers. The song, ‘Kaatru Veliyidai Kannamma’ was presented with nuances. Next part had Shweta portraying the role of women in society and her impassioned enacting for ‘Nallador Veenai Seyde’ was touching. The finale was total surrender to the all-pervasive Sakti.
The footwork and abhinaya of all the dancers, Shweta in particular, proved that they are trained under excellent gurus. Shweta’s theermanams were impressive.
The choreography matched the mood of the selected poems. The music composed by Rajkumar Bharati brought out the emotions in the songs effectively.
Nattuvangam was by Girish Madhu, vocal support by J.B. Keerthana, flute by Sasidhar, violin by Nandini Sai Giridhar and mridangam by Guru Bharadwaj.
By the end of the presentation, one was left with the question, how Bharati would have reacted to the present times, when women — irrespective of age — are facing danger everywhere.
