The commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Sri Krishnadevaraya celebrated by a committee of the Visakhapatnam District Administration headed by District Collector J. Syamala Rao, IAS, grandly concluded with a three-day function held at A.U. Assembly Hall.
It got off to a grand start with a nadaswaram recital rendered by Simhachala Devasthana Vidwans Asirayya, Venkataramana and Yasoda. The ballet Sreekrishnadevaraya Vaibhavam scripted by Akundi Suryanarayana Sastry, presented by girl students of Nritya Kalabharathi School of the Bharatheeya Vidya Kendra, proved to be most befitting for the occasion. Set to populist music by the music teacher of the school M. Venkata Rao who also rendered vocals along with M. Sreedevi, it was choreographed and directed by the principal of Nrutyakalabharathi, Avasarala Rukmajee Rao. He also wielded with M. Edukondalu on mridangam, Dhanunjay on tabla, M. Neeladri Rao on violin, Raja Rao on flute, Ch. Srinivasa Rao on key-board and T.N. Chaithanya with morsing.
Sindhumadhuri as Soothradharini and the court dancer exhibited excellent talent. The solos amusingly presented by little girls Vaishnavi and Bhuvanasree were perfect in technique and drew instant applause. Pilla Ramana Murty attractively compered on all the three days.
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As part of the liberally financed project of the TTD for popularising literary works of poetess and lyricist Matrusree Tharigonda Vengamamba, Surabhila Natyakalamandali, Hyderabad, converted it into drama form by playwright P.V.S. Krishna. Directed and produced by Nandi Award winner Surabhi Jamuna Rayalu, it was staged at Kalabharathi last week.
The first half of the two-hour play highlighted events depicting how she defied the evil custom of getting her head tonsured after she became a widow at a very young age. The rest of the play was also mostly devoid of any notable effort in rendering and analysing poems and lyrics sung by her in praise of Tharigonda Naarasimha and the Lord of the Seven Hills.
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Except for director Jamuna who also empathetically donned the role of grown up Vengamamba, most of the twenty-odd actors seemed not well prepared. But for the instant change of sets and stage décor along with the lighting brought out by Surabhi Kodanda Rao and Surabhi Rayalu, the play could end up on a drab note.