Draping a big white pearl chain around her neck, a sindoor bindi on face, hair trimmed to length and stone-studded rings and bangles on hand, the impeccably dressed danseuse revels in celebration of her art. Shobha Deepak Singh speaks to Saritha Saraswathy Balan on how she recreates Krishna
When we met 72-year-old Shobha Deepak Singh, she was voluble about the mythological production of Krishna , latest in the series to be presented at the annual ballet festival of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, where she is the director. A few artists might have left Krishna, the Hindu lord, from their creation, but Shobha recreates the icon and this is the 37th year of presentation of Krishna by the Kendra.
So everytime her perception will be freshIJ “Yes. People know about Krishna till the Gita part. Initially the ballet commenced with the Raas leela, devoting much time to the literature. Since then, the ballet has travelled to a thoroughly researched and an artistically gratifying experience for the viewer. Each year, with a view to broaden the spectrum of the production , a lot of time is devoted to the populist aspects of Krishna's life”, Shobha says.
“The first half of the production is devoted to the populist episodes: Makhan Chori, Govardhan, Kaliya Raas and so on in which a new dimension has been added to the status of women. Here, Krishna himself elevates the status of Radha from just a beloved to that of her being his divined consort. The latter half of the presentation emphasises the role of Krishna in the Mahabharata war” she adds. Shobha trained 40 artists from across the country, most of whom are from north India and Odisha, for the latest series on Krishna .
“The selection of the artistes was crucial to not let the quality of the production suffer. They were with us for a year. Every day we start work at 2 in the noon and it lasts till 9 in the night”, says Shobha, who writes the scripts and produces shows as well for the annual fest. For the viewers of the festival, they expect the way Shobha will deliver it.
Her Meera broke the conventional image. “My Meera didn’t cry. She was totally different. She was a strong woman who wrote powerful poetry and till I brought it to light, not many knew that her poetries were in Rajasthani and not in Hindi”, she says and keeps asking, “you know Ahalya, another mythical character in Ramayana didn’t turn into a stone, but her emotions turned into a stone”.
Shobha’s presentation of Karna, another character in Mahabharatha, was “like Krishna and Karna were two parts of the same coin”. And, she must had been digging to the Indian Mythology more and more to get a new perception of the characters. “Yes I read two pages of Ramayana every day before I go to sleep. The ballets are always based on mythology because it is one of the finest forms of representing our cultural relevance in the times to come”, she says. The festival of the year begins on 21st August and concludes on 25th at Kamani auditorium.
She is a writer and photographer as well and runs a boutique of antique dupattas at home. “It is not that I open it all the time but have given specific timings for people to step in. We don't get the stuff in the market”. Being a photographer how did you spent the World Photography DayIJ “I posted some of my photos on Facebook”, she quips.
Shobha says she owes much to Ebrahim Alkhazi, one of the most influential faces in modern Indian theatre. She joined living Theatre of Alkhazi in 1992. “It is he who taught me not to view mythologies in a critical way but to take them out from the routes and present them in a contemporary way”, she says. Padma Shri Shobha Deepak Singh continues to do the same now.