Natyanubhava presented by PSBT was a clinical study of the journey of performing arts in modern times. By Utpal K Banerjee
The 5,000-year-old statuette of the dancer from Mohenjo-Daro of the Indus valley civilisation stands stylistically slightly stooping — with one hand lightly touching her bent knee and the other stretched loosely below — with every pore of her inorganic body exuding confidence of a consummate artiste. Five millennia and many conflicting cultures later, a contemporary trained danseuse would stand in a very similar posture: even with an undulating dola hasta (canonised hand-gesture). The civilisation has endured — it would seem — without a break. When our classical dancer performs today, she looks over her shoulder to yesterday but her mind is wrapped in the myths and legends of yore, which she is creating anew. For, she lives in many centuries at one time, unlike any of her ballet-savvy counterparts from the West.
Classical dances — almost all resurrected around the Independence but almost each having a fascinating past embedded in a chequered history — makes the dancer carry, on her petite shoulder, the aesthetics of her form: canonised and grammatically precise in razor-sharp fashion, on one hand and on the other, she carries an overwhelming, nearly overawing, sense of spirituality that she must convey to her spectators. This is because the genesis of her art has been in the temples of the South and the East, carried forward by the faithful devadasis (divine maids); and the royalty and nobility of the North but not without the umbra and penumbra of divinity. It is no wonder that apart from the dancer’s whole mindset — entirely that of a devotee — her stature and postures hark back to temple sculptures.
Natyanubhava (Perception of Dance), screened recently by Public Service Broadcasting Trust and Ministry of External Affairs (Public Diplomacy Division) at IHC, was a clinical study of the journey of this performative art in modern times.
Apart from the fact that this was an eminently suitable product for all our missions abroad, it was amazing how the documentary packaged an entire hoary legacy. It begins rightly with the first hymn of Abhinava Gupta’s classic, Abhinaya Darpana, which connects our dances to the cosmos — noting Shiva as Nataraja and making the entire firmament — the sun, moon and stars as his accoutrement. Again, appropriately, it shifts then to Bharata’s Natya Shastra, recreating its first chapter’s Amrita Manthana (Churning for Nectar) by the ensemble of Chidambaram Academy of Performing Arts in a charming silhouette.
Odissi dancer Ileana Citaristi of Italy confessed, “I came to visit India for six months in an arduous road journey all through Central Asia; reached the shores of Odisha; met the legendary guru Kelucharan Mohapatra; and stayed back all my dancing life,” Another legend, Birju Maharaj, interpreted how the rhythms of his mnemonics catch succinctly the pace of modern hectic life, followed by Abhimanyu and Vidha lal’s ecstatic Kathak from Mahabhatata. Dual exposition of Odissi by Surupa Sen and Bijayaini Satpathy of Gita Govinda’s Asthapadi — set in the pristine milieu of Nrityagram — was enchanting, as was the serene Koodiyattam — the 2,000-year-old Sanskrit drama by Kapila Venu.
The best part of the filmic experience was its methodical approach to all the eight accepted classical dances — plus the UNESCO-recognised Koodiyattam — by not enunciating them individually but encapsulating them under thematic categories. For instance, the Bharatanatyam exponent Chitra Visweswaran explained about nritta (rhythmic dance), nritya (interpretative dance) and natya (histrionic dance) and performers of all the dance forms took turn to illustrate the idea. Again, nava rasa (nine sentiments) — ranging from sringara (love) to shanta (peace) — were depicted admirably by each rasa illustrated by multiple dancers. And the participating performers made a virtual “who’s who” of the dance world of India.
The documentary was directed by Sharada Ramanathan. Noted Sharada, “Indian classical dance is artistic yoga, a means to the revelation of the spiritual through the corporeal. Natyanubhava explores the universal and timeless appeal, as well as the diverse and evolved aesthetics of Indian classical dance. It follows its evocative narration from ancient to contemporary India, as also an artistic manifestation of the Indian civilisation.”
On the process of filming, she elaborated, “It was a daunting task spread over a year, with an enormous budget. It was a pity that I could only use 60 per cent of the material to stick to the desired length. It was a treat to watch the dancers take pains to first internalise, and then expose themselves. In contrast, there was maestro Birju Maharaj, who was ever ready and said, ‘role on the camera.’”