It was not surprising that actor and Bharatanatyam dancer Vineeth would pick up poet Poonthanam Namboothiri’s Jnanappana as a source material for classical dance. In his translation work, Puntanam and Melpattur: Two Measures of Bhakti (2009), attesting to the popularity of the 16th century work Jnanappana Vijay Nambisan writes: "It was still so fresh, so contemporary. It talked of things happening in our world, not someone else's.”
Performed first in Kerala around a year ago, Vineeth’s production came to Bengaluru recently for its fourth time on stage. Supported by The Art of Living Foundation and intended as fund-raiser for Vishranthi Trust for Senior citizens and children, the production featured Vineeth in the lead role as Poonthanam himself. He was accompanied by Bharatanatyam dancer Lakshmi Gopalaswamy.
The story goes that an intensely personal experience led to the creation of the composition. Poonthanam, it is believed, wrote the Jnanappana , overcome by the sorrow of losing his child just days after its birth. It is with this episode that Vineeth began the performance. Clad in white, dressed as a devout Namboothiri, Vineeth depicted Poonthanam on his child’s annaprasham day (the day when the child is fed its first morsel). Soon, we hear his wife’s cries and it is announced that the child is no more, leaving Poonthanam shattered. The entire episode was marked by dramatic music. The mother, her cries and the child’s death were depicted through shadow play, perhaps as a means of avoiding showing death on stage.
So far, what we have is a piece of theatre with the actual dance yet to begin.
This is also the moment when Poonthanam discovers the poet in him. The phrase- unnikrishnan manasil kalikumbol,unnikal mattu venamo makkalai (When there is Krishna in your heart, do you need children of your own?) is crucial for Poonthanam’s transformation and coping. Interestingly, Vineeth, who has also choreographed the entire production, introduced a little child dressed as Krishna to signal this transformation. As Poonthanam sees this little Krishna, a reflection of his own heart, he begins to gather courage and seeks refuge in his God. As he encounters this Krishna within himself, Poonthanam also begins to decipher the truth and purpose of human existence and what follows is poetry full of sharp philosophical metaphors and divine imagery. It is now that the dance portions begin with Vineeth, Lakshmi and the dancers taking each phrase cluster in the Jnanappana and showcasing it through dance.
As delightful as it was to watch Vineeth and his team take turns to perform the poem, one felt that a lot of the sharp arguments that the poet was making was lost in the sheer speed of the performance. The dance portions were marked by swift and repetitive entries and exits, for, the team had to cover the entire text of the composition. This put those who did not understand Malayalam at a disadvantage for if one missed a quick sanchari, one couldn’t even rely on the text for support. The team deserves credit for stage design, movements and costumes. One wished they did more to take the audience along with them though, perhaps paused along the way at certain episodes or stanzas for better delineation.
Vineeth’s style as a dancer is replete with subtle expressions and cursory movements. There are no elaborate gestures or dramatic movements in his dance. His choreography too, albeit simple, had a charm of its own. Lakshmi Gopalaswamy was graceful both in her solo portions as well as those with Vineeth.
Overall, the performance built up rather swiftly to a finale that was an attempt at recreating the ‘darshanam’ at Guruvayur. This too was staged elaborately. The music composed by Sharreth followed the format of a shloka, and was sung by K.S.Chitra, with Krishna Mukunda Janardhana... as the refrain. Both in its composition and tone, it matched the theme of Bhakti that the team aspired to portray.
