Mallika Sarabhai calls herself a true Hindu. One who follows the Vedantic way of questioning and introspecting; one who finds divinity in every object of nature and beyond.
The Vedantic way is that of the atman, where taboos don’t exist. “If so, how can menstruation be a taboo?” she wonders. Dialogues too seem to be taboo now, she says, though some of the Supreme Court’s recent judgements on gender equality and the rights of the marginalised have come as a breather.
Yet Kerala has disappointed her as a society. “Malayali women’s response to the Sabarimala order is an example of how patriarchy can influence the people it tries to control to be its supporters,” she says. The India she dreams of is one where varieties coexist to create a unique harmony. Her art is a medium for her to reach that thought out. Ms. Sarabhai made a step towards that on Tuesday, at the Nadanagramam, where she addressed dance students on “Influence of theatre in contemporary Bharatanatyam”.
Grooming
Being born into a family of free-thinking people, her grooming as an activist and a performer ran parallel. A sense of justice prevailed in her from childhood and her mother, Mrinalini Sarabhai, taught her to explore art as a medium of social change.
But it was only after she played Draupadi in Peter Brook’s Mahabharata in the 80s that a merger of these facets took place. “After five years of touring stages across the world with the play, I found my activism gracefully in confluence with my dance,” Ms. Sarabhai says.
From then on, she has used art to connect with the masses. Most creations of Darpana, the academy her mother founded in Ahmedabad, stand up for equality and self respect.
She feels Natyadharmi (theatre-centric) and Lokadharmi (world-centric), the styles of Abhinaya as mentioned in the Natyashashtra, could blend into a unique form where life as it is now could be recreated on stage.
“Dance has to go beyond the angst of an epic heroine,” she says, recounting how she choreographed a piece for her son who was studying abroad and missed his lover who worked in another city.
In another work, she thanks Brahma for creating the universe, Vishnu for preserving it and tells Shiva that human beings have taken his place as the destroyer of nature and the race.
In politics
Her concern for people took her to politics too but she found the field unethical.
However, there is hope in people like Jignesh Mevani, who, she feels, knows the pulse of the people.
Gujarat claims
Debunking the claims that Gujarat model is a success, she points out that the State is hit by unemployment and agrarian and educational crises. In politics, as elsewhere, it is the loud and the bombastic who get heard. “While this is unfortunate, it is a challenge too,” she feels.
Her art now has to innovate to reach out to help keep India a garden of many blooms.
