|     |
|
| |
 An inspiring Mohiniattam performance by Malavika Menon - SK Venugopal e-mail: venugopalsk@hotmail.com January 10, 2024 On Saturday the 30th December 2023, I witnessed an amazing Mohiniattam presentation titled 'Anahata' by Malavika Menon at 'Ganesham', as part of the 111-day long Soorya Festival. Anahata Nadam (sound) refers to the Vedic concept of unstruck sound representing balance, calmness, and serenity. Choosing 5 famous works of saintly poets of the Indian subcontinent from different cultural backgrounds, and languages, Malavika presented an audio-visual treat that took the audience through ecstatic levels of devotion, truly silencing the mind to a state of calmness and serenity. With the histrionic talent that she possesses, Malavika succeeded in interpreting the different shades of bhakti, be it, in the tone of devotion, anger, humor, doubt, desperation or extreme passion. The artiste needs to be complimented for the humongous efforts she made in fixing the concept, working towards compiling the lyrics, getting best of musicians to give life to the lyrics, and above all working on the choreography, keeping in mind the complexity of the different elements of bhakti to be convincingly portrayed in front of the audience. The future of the dance form Mohiniattam is in safe hands of young artistes like her, I must say. Malavika was in fact first exposed to Bharatanatyam from a tender age. For the past 20 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 artiste that she is, she also performs her own choreographies like 'Anahata'. She is the founder of 'Sadhana,' a virtual art space that teaches and promotes Mohiniattam. An empaneled artist of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), she is also recipient of the senior scholarship in Mohiniattam awarded by the Centre for Cultural Resources and training, Ministry of Culture, New Delhi (2019-21). In addition to being an active performer and teacher, she has great interest in documenting the history and growth of the 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.  Photo: Haree Photographie 'Anahata' deals with different shades of bhakti as practiced or experienced by the saints, revealing some of their deeply layered emotions expressed in their madness for the divine. Malavika with her inherent skills in abhinaya, and brilliantly choreographed movements and gestures, captured every such emotion and conveyed it beautifully to a spellbound audience. She began with a sloka of Sree Narayana Guru, 'Janani Navaratna Manjari', praising the vastness of the Devi and her all-pervading energy, followed by a Cholkettu in ragam Bhairavi and adi talam. The traditional Mohiniattam piece was a treat to watch with some attractive and graceful moves. The next was a Telugu composition of saint poet Annamacharya. The divine consort of Lord Venkateswara, Alamelu Manga suspects and confronts her husband, the Lord of the hills, for his relationship with other women. In indignation, struck with immense sorrow, she expresses her feeling of complete betrayal in a state of dejection possibly leading to Annamacharya's own feeling of frustration. The khandita nayika was again a unique presentation by Malavika in her typical style. The piece was set to raga Poorvi Kalyani and adi talam in tisra nadai. Her next presentation was a composition of Mirabai. In this, Malavika conveys the intense feel of longing, fear, hope and desperation in bhakti, as experienced by Mirabai, who is constantly seeking her beloved even in the dark clouds that gathers in the sky, and wonders why they did not carry any message for her from Hari. The nethrabhinaya in this piece was remarkable. The item was set to Ragamalika and eka talam. Malavika then moved on to portray the passionate and intimate relationship a Bhakta has with the Lord so exhaustively narrated in Jayadeva's 'Geeta Govindam'. In the popular ashtapadi "Kuru Yadu Nandana," Radha after having spent a whole night in romantic unison, is in a passionate conversation with Krishna. It is very difficult for an artiste to interpret the Bhakti bhava of Radha with so much of passion and intimacy writ large all over the lyrics. Malavika was outstanding in depicting the character beautifully with all the necessary emotions, be it love, lust or devotion, with so much of ease. The maturity of a seasoned artiste was in display throughout this performance. Set to Ragamalika and mishra chapu talam, the ashtapadi stood out as one of the brilliant choreographies, considering the challenges explained.  Photo: Anil Ayyur The concluding item was an Abhang of Namdev, who was inseparable from his Lord and atma sakha Pandurang Vittala. This state of bhakti is one in which Bhakta is in complete surrender to the Lord, unconditionally. Malavika did well in conveying this ultimate feel of bhakti of Namdev, with her choreographic skills displayed through appropriate gestures, apt facial expressions and dancing moves to match. This piece was set to Ragamalika and eka talam. This was followed by an instrumental taanam in raga Syama. It was inspired from the verses of Kashmiri saint poet Lal Ded expressing the ultimate joy and liberation a Bhakta experiences in his/her journey towards enlightenment, said Malavika in her narration. It looked like the spirit of the lyric indeed helped her team a great extent for the culmination of their journey through Anahata. Be it the ashtapadi, Mirabai bhajan or Abhang, it was noteworthy to find Malavika and her musicians chose to stick to the flavor of Hindustani music so beautifully in their compositions. The visual impact of classic Mohiniattam of Kerala blending so well with the Hindustani music was good to watch and enhanced the beauty of the production. Such innovative efforts need to be appreciated. The portion in ragam Syama towards the end was a bit unsuitable for the concluding part, even while the rest of the music was just marvelous, particularly the soulful singing of Bhagyalakshmi, which helped Malavika a great deal in conveying the emotions so effectively. Music credits include vocal - Bhagyalakshmi Guruvayur, violin - Suresh Ambadi, mridangam and maddalam - Kallekulangara Unnikrishnan, veena - Baiju Rajeeth, and flute- Raghunath.  S.K.Venugopal is a businessman in the field of Engineering projects, 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, who is associated with Mohiniattam as accompanying musician and music composer. |
