Accent on abhinaya

Keerthi Panicker’s Bharatanatyam recital in the capital city had many novel elements

Bharatanatyam recital by Keerthi Panicker

Characters and situations from different texts, presented in the context of atrocities against women, children and animals, was the theme of Keerthi Panicker’s production titled ‘Meera – Calling for a Saviour’. Although the introduction sounded like the danseuse would try to relate past stories to the present day incidents, it turned out to be only in the description. The popular Meera bhajan Hari tuma haro... was used for the lyrical part and the stories were told from the point of view of the poet.

The recital started with a short take on ‘Madhurashtakam’, in praise of Krishna. Later she moved on to the bhajan. The selected scenes were of Krishna protecting Draupadi, Narasimha saving Prahlada and Vishnu coming to the rescue of Gajendra. Keerthi did well in playing different characters and one aspect that made it an interesting affair was her abhinaya, which appeared to be her strong point. Eventhough all of them were calling upon their lord to save them, Keerthi was able to give a distinctive flair to each of them. And it was only apt that she portrayed the villains – Dussasana, Hiranyakashipu and the crocodile – all in the same hue of cruelty and ferocity.

While it was interesting at the beginning, as Keerthi’s approach relied heavily on abhinaya, the complete lack of rhythmic segments made it a bit monotonous as the performance continued.

Musical element

The melodious voice of Sikkil Gurucharan, with a piano as the single supporting instrument, gave a unique feel to the music tracks. With a lot of humming and instrumental portions in between the lyrical parts, the dancer was given enough space and scope to elaborate on her ideas. However, the lack of percussion created a void, if one were to consider it in the context of Bharatanatyam. Pianist Anil Srinivasan did his best to compensate for the missing percussion but in vain.

The consecutive pieces that she presented also had the same pattern – vocal with piano and the danseuse emphasising on the expressive part alone. Whether that alone could keep the audience completely involved was doubtful.

The Subramania Bharati song Aasai mugam... was used to present the sorrowful Radha followed by another production titled ‘Sankaram’, narrating the story of little Sankara making his mother agree to his decision to become a hermit. Keerthi’s take on it was that Sankara had tricked his mother by pretending that he was caught by a crocodile to get her permission. It differed from the oft-heard versions of the episode.

In addition to Keerthi’s presentations, 10 of her students staged items in between, which included a varnam, a keerthanam and a thillana. The recital was organised by Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan on its premises as part of its monthly cultural programme ‘Samskrithi’.