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 Malavika Menon's excellent performance at Nishagandhi Festival - S.K. Venugopal e-mail: venugopalsk@hotmail.com Photos: Haree Fotografie February 25, 2023 On 20th February 2023, I witnessed a Mohiniattam performance of Malavika Menon at Nishagandhi dance festival, considered to be one of the most prestigious festivals of this kind in India, conducted by tourism department, Govt. of Kerala. The sprawling Nishagandhi open air theatre at Kanakakkunnu Palace in Thiruvananthapuram is known for its amazing ambience, the gigantic stage and the unmatched associated facilities.  Malavika, a young and immensely talented Mohiniattam performer, was in fact first exposed to Bharatanatyam from a very tender age. For the past 18 years, she has been learning Mohiniattam from Vinitha Nedungadi, who is well known for her innovative thinking and creative brilliance in choreography. Malavika has appeared in numerous group and solo productions and is still undergoing advanced training under her Guru. The gifted artist that she is, she also performs her own choreographies and imparts training to a number of discerning students. She is the founder of 'Sadhana,' an art space in Bangalore that teaches and promotes Mohiniattam. An empaneled artiste of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), she is a recipient of the senior scholarship in Mohiniattam awarded by the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, Ministry of Culture, New Delhi (2019-21). She is also a graded artiste in Doordarshan. In addition to being an active performer and teacher, she has great interest in documenting the history and growth of this art form. A series by name 'Lasymukharika' was one such endeavor where she interviewed more than 20 senior artistes recording their journey in Mohiniattam, thereby creating a virtual archive for this art form. Malavika started her performance with a short 'Ganesha slokam' followed by Jathiswaram in ragam Sankarabharanam and roopaka thalam. After this graceful introduction, she presented "Rangapuravihara," a keerthanam by Muthuswamy Dikshithar, set to raga Brindavana Saranga and roopaka thalam. Praising Lord Sriranganathan (Mahavishnu), who incarnated as Rama adorning the famed bow 'Kothanda', she interprets the beautiful lines and presented a vivid picture of the grandeur of Srirangam temple, with Sriranganathaswamy reclining on Adisesha with his right palm facing upwards next to his head, making us feel as though the lord is listening to his bhaktas. The way she used the entire stage in drawing those beautiful visuals in front of us was remarkable. She then moved on to present the main item of the evening, 'Geethanjali'. This was a choreography in Varnam format using a few verses of the translation of original Geethanjali, the famed work of Rabindranath Tagore, translated in Malayalam by legendary poet and Jnanpith awardee G. Sankara Kurup. The eternal relationship between jeevathma and paramathma was beautifully depicted by the Nayika here, representing jeevathma, traveling through various emotional phases in her quest to unite with her beloved, the Paramathma. Malavika captures our imagination while taking us through the journey of the Nayika yearning to be one with the paramathma, shedding all her worldly desires, and preparing her mind to attain 'Paramathma chaithanyam'. The music for the item was composed by Kottakkal Madhu, a celebrated Kathakali singer, in Ragamalika-Talamalika. The concluding item was "Jamuna Kinare," a Swathi Thirunal composition set to raga Mishra Peelu and adi talam. The theme is about the inseparable relationship between Krishna and Radha. The uniqueness of this choreography is its very conceptualization. Unlike the usual approach of romanticizing the eternal relationship in persona of the characters, here it's the flute of Krishna visualized as the central factor. The flute was gifted to her by Krishna while leaving for Mathura and she gets consumed by Krishna's music, but is unable to see him in person. The music from the flute is so haunting that she begins hallucinating and searching for Krishna everywhere. In the end she realizes that the music is all encompassing and part of her very existence, and that Krishna is very much within her. The musical support, the flute in particular was so good, transporting us to a territory of spiritual bliss.  I must say overall it was an evening well spent. Every aspect of the performance was noteworthy. The adavus and chuzhippus (typical of traditional Mohiniattam) were so graceful and complete. The hasthas (hand gestures) and the abhinaya (expressions) were in absolute sync and the amalgamation of all these qualities in the artiste created a magnificent visual treat. The highlight was of course her control over the stage. She dominated that space so well, with absolute command. Another feature observed were the respectful credits she extended to her Guru Vinitha Nedungadi. All her presentations of the evening were the exclusive choreographies of her Guru who did the nattuvangam. The mellifluous musical vocal support was provided by Kalamandalam Karthikeyan, mridangam by Kallekkulangara Unnikrishnan, violin by Suresh Ambadi and flute by Vinod Koppam. Another very important contribution was from Sivan Venkitangu, who did the beautiful light design, thereby highlighting the excellent performance of Malavika Menon. Not the least, the voice modulation, the clarity in diction of the narrations by Malavika, stood out as a class act. That shows the confidence of the artiste in her craft as also the commitment to excel.  S.K. Venugopal is a businessman in the field of Engineering projects, and also a singer, composer, accredited artist in Light Music at All India Radio, auditioned and graded member of panel of speakers in Films Division of India, associated with Mohiniattam as accompanying musician and music composer. |
