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 Eighth Navvarsh Mahotsav - Shashank Kiron Nair e-mail: shashank.k.nair@gmail.com Photos: Harshavardhan K February 11, 2023 Navvarsh Mahotsav is a much awaited, two-day dance festival that brings to the rasikas of Bangalore, performances by stalwarts from various fields of Indian classical dance. Curated by Bangalore based Kathakali exponent Prabal Gupta, the festival is organized by the Saraswati Educational Cultural and Charitable Trust. This year, the Kathakali performance by Prabal Gupta and his troupe was sponsored by ICCR under the Horizon Series and Guru Veena Murthy Vijay's production was funded by the South Zone Cultural Centre, Ministry of Culture, GOI.  Book release The festival also saw the release of the book 'Revival of Temple Dancing: Vasanthothsav, a celebration of dance' authored by Dr. C.K. Gariyali and Priyadarshini Rajkumar. Three accomplished personalities from the art field, Smitha Rajan for Mohiniattam, Padmini Ravi and Dr. Aarti Shetty for Bharatanatyam were awarded the Indira Gariyali Award at the inauguration ceremony on Feb 1, 2023.  Smitha Rajan The first performance for the festival was a Mohiniattam recital by Smitha Rajan, granddaughter of the doyen of Mohiniattam, Guru Kalyanikutty Amma and the Kathakali legend Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair Asan. Smitha commenced her recital by paying tribute to Unni Ganapathi Tampuran through a composition of Guru Sreedevi Rajan. The piece in ragam Anandabhairavi set the mood for the rest of the Mohiniattam presentation. Through this sthuthi, Smitha skillfully narrated the story of the competition between the two brothers Ganesha and Karthikeya to win the divine mango. Smitha then presented the popular varnam "Sumasayaka," a masterpiece composition of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal in the heart-melting raga Shuddha Kapi, which provided ample scope for the dancer to portray the Nayika overcome by lassitude. Smitha as the Sakhi narrated the story of a damsel distressed by the arrows of Kamadeva. The evocative piece was a choreography of Sreedevi Rajan. Beautiful swara passages and the aesthetically drawn sequences of the Sakhi playing the veena to lighten the Nayika's mood in efforts to help her forget her yearning for Lord Padmanabha but finally discarding them as nothing could subdue her pain of separation from him was brought out with finesse. The next piece was a poignant padam in Tamil set to ragam Bhageshri "Kanden kanden Seethaiyai." It portrayed a conversation between Lord Rama and his ardent devotee Hanuman who had just returned from Lanka having met Sita. Through her nuanced abhinaya, Smitha was successful in bringing out the varied emotions of each character as she maneuvered through them. The concluding piece of Smitha's presentation was an attakatha written by Muringoor Shankaran Potti. A staple in Kathakali performances later adapted to Mohiniattam the Kuchelavritham attakatha delineates the story of Sudhama's meeting with his old friend Krishna. The subtleties of Sudhama's inhibitions holding him back despite his helpless state contrasting with the lord's familiarizing demeanor was masterfully rendered by Smitha. "Ajitha hare Krishna'" in Manipravalam set to Sree ragam was a choreography of Smitha Rajan. Soulful singing by Reju Narayanan, flute by Mahesh Swami, edakka by Kalamandalam Nidhin Krishnan, mridangam by Kiran Gopinath and veena by Gopal Venkataramana accompanying the dance performance created a blissful experience.  Mudrika ensemble The next segment for the evening was 'Shivoham', a Bharatanatyam presentation by Guru Minal Prabhu's Mudrika ensemble. The presentation opened with a Mallari in ragam Nattai. Through a series of intricate nritta movements woven across different speeds and jaathis, the majesty of Lord Shiva and his accompanying entourage was brought alive on stage. Nandhi Chol, a fast-paced jathi followed, depicting Lord Shiva dancing to Nandi's joyous playing of the mridangam. The Nandhi Chol composed by Karthik Dattar in adi talam, flowed into a Ragamalika Keerthana "Natana manohara". The piece showcased the majestic tandava of Lord Shiva who is adorned by the Saptaswaras as ornaments. The Mudrika ensemble concluded Shivoham with "Anadi vAnanta - The Seamless One". The dancers bow to the lord in his ethereal manifestation of the Pancha bhootas. Using a dancer's body as an instrument to represent these elements, Guru Minal Prabhu, apparently inspired by the teachings of the Advaita Vedanta where 'Brahman' is the ultimate truth, had choreographed this piece primarily relying on nritta to celebrate these manifestations of the Brahman.  Manipurakshiti Rakshanotka Day two started by honoring Dr. Raghavendra, the founder, and director of the Ananya GML Cultural Academy with the Sri Kashinath Gariyali award. Immediately following this ceremony was a Kathakali presentation by Prabal Gupta and his troupe. 'Manipurakshiti Rakshanotka' is inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's Chitrangada with lyrics written in Sanskrit by Dr. Shankar Rajaraman and choreographed by Prabal Gupta. Sadanam Vipin Chandran as Arjuna and Kalamandalam Praveen as Chitrangada delivered their roles brilliantly setting the stage for Lalitha essayed by Prabal Gupta, to steal Arjuna's heart. Using a 'thiraseela' to delineate the metamorphosis from manly Chitrangada to graceful Lalitha after being blessed by Kamadeva was well rendered. Moments of sringara between Lalitha and Arjuna (Prabal and Vipin) including beautiful nritta sequences and the chuzipus of Kathakali adapted into the romantic sequences, were a treat to behold. The music composed by Sadanam Jyotish Babu and sung soulfully by him and Sadanam Sai Kumar supported by edakka and chenda by Kalamandalam Nidhin Krishnan, maddalam by Devadasan and timila by Kalamandalam Rahul Nambissan was the lifeline of the production. Ragas like Abheri, Anandabhairavi, Kalyani and Yaman Kalyani were used aptly. Superb chutti by Kalamandalam Satheesh Kumar and brilliant lighting design by Nagaraj T enhanced the overall effect of 'Manipurakshiti Rakshanotka.'  Ganga Gowri Vilasam The final segment of the festival was a Kuchipudi Yakshagana 'Ganga Gowri Vilasam' presented by Dr. Veena Murthy Vijay and her team. The presentation had the audience clutching their stomachs in laughter. It is not often that humor in classical dance clicks with the audience. Credit for this work's success goes to Veena Murthy who played the Sutradhara pitting Devi Ganga and Devi Gowri against each other over their lord Shiva. Veena's years of experience with traditional Kuchipudi productions gave her an edge to connect with the audience and achieve rasothpatthi. Surya Rao, Rajashri Holla and Sangeeta Phanish performed excellently as Shiva, Gowri and Ganga. Priyadarshini Rajkumar said humor has been an integral part of performance arts, especially Kuchipudi, thus making 'Ganga Gowri Vilasam' the perfect finale for the festival.  Shashank Kiron Nair is a Bharatanatyam dancer, Carnatic vocalist and student of Architecture at BMS College of Architecture. He is a recipient of the Kalashree Prashasti 2017-18 and Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy scholarship 2021-22. |
