Andal's hymns visualised

Good music, dynamic choreography and aesthetic visualisation made ‘Koodiyirundhu Kulirndhelorempaavai' lively and pulsating.

Artist performing at Anita ' Guha Tiruppavai ' at Narada Gana Sabha in Chennai on Friday.

‘Koodiyirundhu Kulirndhelorempaavai' was a visual representation of Andal's devotional paasurams in Bharatanatyam.

Conceptualised by dancer Anitha Guha and presented by the students of her dance school, Bharathanjali, the 105-minute programme was an abridged version of an earlier production that included all the paasurams of the Tiruppavai.

‘Koodiyirundhu..' was a beautifully constructed edifice, whose foundation lay in the good music, good dance and aesthetic visualisation. Providing the frills were many little mythological stories that were enacted with cues taken from the text and some that were arrived at after some consideration.

Whatever the circumstance, the focus always remained soft and hence pleasurable.

Without a narrative to hold the picture together, each paasuram was per force an independent segment. But the beautiful music, with the original M.L.Vasanthakumari-ragas and add-ons by P.R.Venkatasubramaniam and Anita, sung by the Padma Seshadri sisters, and the dynamic choreography kept the show alive and pulsating. The scholarly yet tongue-in-cheek introductions by actor Revathy Sankkaran added pep.

The show included lighter elements like Krishna's bhava-laden jati with Rukmini and Satyabhama and His romancing them with song ‘Maanvizhi, Thenmozhi..,' a ‘Cuckoo jati' in misram (cuckoo tharikitatom), a humorous take on Kumbakarna, the sleeping giant, with words from the Kamba Ramayana set in chatusra nadai and the Mapillai Azhaippu scene with melam and other trappings that came in from the back of the big auditorium.

Interesting interpretations

Different tableau presented at the same time was an interesting concept well executed. In the paasuram, ‘Ongi Ulagalandha' instead of depicting just the Vamana avatara viswaroopam, the Gitopadesa viswaroopam was also shown at the same time.

With the help of resource person, Dr. Anantha Padmanabhachariar, Anita made some interesting interpretations that went beyond popular perception.

In the paasuram ‘Kanaithilam Katrerumai,' though the words indicate the killing of the king of Southern Lanka, the mention of anger (sinathinaal) has been taken to mean Sisupaala (Raavana reborn) who was killed by Krishna in anger.

Similarly, in ‘Pullin Vai Keendanai,' that indicated the killing of Bakasura and Raavana. Hiranyakashipu was also included because of the words, ‘killi kalaindaanai.'

The young dancers, 33 of them, were well-coordinated. They performed the favourite adavus of the production, the Kudhitha mettu adavus and the dhi dhi thais , with energy. More important, their role play was most convincing, irrespective of the size of the role.

Sinitha, Sharanya Ragothaman and Aishwarya Narayanaswamy were delectable Andals while Pavithra Bhat (disciple of Deepak Mazumdar, Mumbai) made a dashing Krishna.

The show ended with a beautiful jati, Jaikita janakita in Adi talam (Madurai R. Muralidharan) and a short marriage ceremony between Ranganatha and Andal with the Vaaranamaayiram verses from the Nachiar Thirumozhi.