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 The second edition of Jharna Festival - Bhavani Ravindran e-mail: srialamelu@gmail.com Photos courtesy: Bharata Kalanjali April 16, 2023 The second edition of Jharna was a six-day festival in Chennai spanning two weekends, 3rd to 5th and 10th to 12th March 2023. Organized under the auspices of Bharata Kalanjali of the Dhananjayans, it was meticulously curated by Shobana Bhalchandra, Bharata Kalanjali's creative director who also introduced each day's program. Introducing the festival theme, Shobana likened 'Jharna' to the flow of water which never stops to look back but is always flowing ahead. The concept of this festival was to provide a platform for upcoming artistes to showcase their talent with the aim of eventually making this a career. The special feature this year was the presence of prominent dancers who were invited each day to provide critical appreciation of the performance of the day. Each performing artiste was also remunerated for their efforts. Shobana in her welcome thanked the various sponsors who made the festival possible. Day 1  Ramya Suresh The first performer was Dr. Ramya Suresh, a student of Indira Kadambi. She started with a traditional alarippu in mishra chapu followed by a popular swarajathi in Bhairavi by Shyama Shastri. Her creative piece, the central piece of the presentation, was about Agni, which is an excerpt from her latest production that is still a work in progress. Ramya portrayed Agni in its various forms which follow a human from birth to death. She beautifully showed the navarasa of this element of the Pancha Bhootham. Her creativity in presenting such a complex theme was commendable, with very apt recorded music by T.V. Ramprasad, and graceful dancing.  Indu Santhosh The second performer was Indu Santhosh, a student of Shobana Bhalchandra presently being mentored by Vaibhav Arekar. She has also learnt Mohiniattam and Ottanthullal. Indu was chosen as the best performer from last year's Jharna Festival for which she was invited as a guest this year. Indu did only one piece which was on the great river Ganga. For this she took a Muthuswami Dikshitar kriti "Gangai Maampahi" and amalgamated it with verses from a Malayalam poem to present her piece in the varnam format. Indu as Ganga portrayed all that she witnesses in her passage from the origin to the confluence. She described all that the river offers to people and flora and fauna on its way along its path. The Dikshitar kriti in Senchurutti ragam beautifully set the mood for the piece which was well conceptualized by the performer. The pre-recorded music was by Abhishek Chandrashekar. The special invitee for the evening, Guru Vasanthalakshmi Narasimhachari (a natyacharya who is being conferred the title of 'Nritya Kalanidhi' by the Music Academy for 2023) particularly mentioned the use of Karanas by the dancer which she mentioned was done very aesthetically. Day 2  Shambhavi Jagadeesh Shambhavi Jagadeesh has a master's degree in Fine Arts from Shastra University. She is presently a student of Bharata Kalanjali. Her main piece, her creative presentation was an abstract theme, where she tried to emphasize that the appearance of the physical body does not have great significance but the inner self which seeks the Almighty would give that self confidence that is all important. She went on to portray the story of Akka Mahadevi and the relation between Parvati and Lord Shiva. Somehow these depictions did not seem to fit the theme. The music was by her sister Shashwathy Jagadeesh. The dancing started off vigorously enough but by the time the thillana came along, the dancer did not have the required energy level.  Shobhit Ramesh The second performer was Shobhit Ramesh, a disciple of Parshwanath Upadhye from the Upadhye School of Dance, Bengaluru. He started with Lalgudi Jayaraman's Behag jathiswaram. His main creative piece was regarding Sufism. For this the words were taken from Kabir and Amir Khusroo verses, set to music by Srikant Gopalakrishnan in Jog ragam and presented in the format of a Thaana varnam. His concept was that a person must not be attached to material things and if one has to attain a particular goal he will need the advice and guidance of a Sadguru. The dancing was competent but the use of a classical raga for the lyrics didn't seem to go well together. The live music had nattuvangam by Parshwanath and vocal by Srikant Gopalakrishnan. The special guest Kalairani, a stage and cinema artiste, in her interactive session had a piece of advice to dancers in general. She being a theatre personality felt that dancers too should follow a similar approach, be it in the realm of make-up or stage usage etc. Day 3  Shubhamani Chandrashekar Shubhamani Chandrashekar is a Kalakshetra alumni now under the tutelage of Rama Vaidyanathan. Her creative theme was "Nee mattume en nenjill nirkirai" (You alone reside in my heart). This concept could be understood as total surrender to the Almighty or to one's beloved. She started with a "Krishna panchakam" - a slokam - followed by Mallari, verses from Mukundamala. Next she did "Aasai mugam marandu poche," a Bharathiyar song depicting the love for the Lord/beloved. The next piece was a Kalidasa poetry excerpt; it depicted that even celestial beings like Shiva and Parvati are not spared love's pangs. Her central piece used verses by poet Bharath Hari, which had music by Arun Prakash in Kapi ragam. This song too describes the intense depth of feelings between lovers. She concluded with a joyful "nottu swaram" by Muthuswami Dikshitar in Shankarabaranam. Overall the performance was very pleasing as it was well executed.  Anand Satchidanandan Anand Satchidanandan is a disciple of the Dhananjayans. His creative theme was "Nada Yogam" where Shiva is the creator of nadham. He started with a Maheswara sutram followed by Nandi Chol composed by Ramesh Babu and dance choreography by the Dhananjayans. Next was a vrittam in which the seven swaras depicting sounds from nature were described. The famous kirtanai "Sobillu saptaswara", a composition of Thyagaraja in Jaganmohini ragam followed. This is a challenging piece for a dancer which was done very well by Anand. The expressions were perfect and the whole piece was riveting from beginning to the end. Next was a piece where Anand had taken verses from Adi Shankara and the philosophical poet Manikavasagar. The evolution of man from humble beginnings was portrayed well by the dancer. The performance concluded with a thillana, music by Regi George, dance choreography by Rajesh in Yaman Kalyani ragam. Special guest G Narendra in his interaction was very effusive in his praise for Anand in the choice and performance of the Thyagaraja kriti. He praised the intellectual approach of the dancer to carry a difficult piece with such precision and grace. Day 4  Divya Hoskere The first performer was Divya Hoskere, a student of Praveen Kumar, Chitkala School of Dance, Bengaluru. She is also adept at puppetry, an art which she has imbibed from her mother who runs a school at Bengaluru. She started with a Shiva stuti in Paras ragam by Pallavi Doraiswamy Iyer. In this piece she explored the navarasas of Shiva, a well executed presentation. This was followed by an ashtapadi in Vasanthi ragam. For her main piece, the creative portion, she drew inspiration from her puppet theatre training, so the piece was basically an amalgam of Bharatanatyam and puppetry. In her introduction, she said that due to her association with puppet theatre she chose a portion from Bhagavatham, the story of Rukmini pining for Krishna with whom she falls in love merely by seeing a picture of him. The love was so strong that she even rejects her brother's desire for her to marry another. This was interestingly done with the unique aspect of Rukmini being enacted by the dancer, Krishna and the Sutradhar, Kurathi, being puppets. The amalgamation of puppets with a live dancer was very interesting and very well enacted. The puppets were controlled by her sister Prakriti Hoskere. Live music was provided by Easwar Iyer on vocals, nattuvangam by Praveen Kumar who conducted the orchestra.  Therukoothu The second performance was a Therukoothu by Purisai Duraisamy and troupe. The leader Purisai Duraisamy was the main character, Abhimanyu, in the episode from the Mahabharata that was depicted. Such performances are usually part of village festivals where these themes are enacted over the period of a whole night, but here with the time constraints that are inherent in a stage show such as this, it was necessary to compress the narrative to 45 minutes. It was a great effort under the circumstances. Jharna in its attempt to encourage marginalized art forms has given a platform to folk theatre also, a commendable gesture. The special guest was V.R. Devika. Day 5  P.V. Durga The first performer was P.V. Durga, a student of Shobana Bhalchandra. She started with a "nritya vandanam" in ragamalika and talamalika, with music by T.K. Padmanabhan and dance choreography by Shobana. Her main creative piece was Sitagadiya, from the oral Telugu tradition. The piece is an imaginary incident in the domestic life of Sita. Sita is caught up in her domestic duties and comes late to the bedchamber. Her husband Rama is annoyed and locks her out; the piece describes how Sita pacifies Rama. Durga presented this item beautifully, portraying Sita not as divine but as an ordinary housewife with day to day distractions and pleasures. The uniqueness of the concept deserves praise and Durga carried it off very well. She concluded with a thillana in Nalinakanti ragam, a composition of Lalgudi Jayaraman. Live music was provided by Brijesh Venu on vocal, nattuvangam by Anita Unni who conducted the orchestra.  Purvadhanashree Purvadhanashree has specialized in Vilasini Natyam, a Telugu temple dance traditionally practiced by Devadasis and popularized by Swapna Sundari. Purvadhanashree explained Vilasini Natyam as a form of dance originated as Vidya Vilasini where the performance can be of different styles depending on the venue of the performance - in a temple, or during temple rituals, or as a stage performance. She presented Vilasini Natyam as a stage presentation. Her only piece to recorded music was the Kalyani varnam of the famed Tanjore Quartet. Her performance was brilliant. The beauty of the composition was fully exploited and presented with great flair and grace. The special guest for the evening was Jayanthi Subramaniam. Day 6  Soumitri Som Soumitri Som learnt natyam in Kolkata at a tender age. She later moved to Chennai and came under the tutelage of Jayanthi Subramaniam and is now presently with the Dhananjayans. Her single piece was a tribute to Jharna and involved verses from Rabindranath Tagore's poetry, "Broken dream of a fountain". The dance itself was a sort of fusion of a Mallari and a tillana. Voice was rendered by her sister Jaya Dey.  Sachidanand Narayankar The second performer was Sachidanand Narayankar, a student of Nalanda Nrityakala Mahavidyalaya founded by Dr.Kanak Rele. He is now currently under the tutelage of Vaibhav Arekar. His only piece was on Ashwattama, a 15 minute presentation.  Anirudh Baiju The third performer on the final day was Anirudh Baiju, a 12 year old prodigy, on classical piano. The special guest was Priyadarsini Govind. The festival was a commendable effort of the curator, since managing so many artistes so meticulously must have provided myriad challenges. In conclusion, Shobana again thanked all the sponsors for making the festival a resounding success.  Bhavani Ravindran is a Bharatanatyam dancer, a student of T.A. Rajalakshmi, from Kolkata. She has a Master's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Bharatanatyam from Madras University. She also paints, Tanjore art being her forte. |
