Face to Face, a Bharatanaytam recital, brought together the mythological characters of Sita and Draupadi in a dialogue. Director-choreographer Jyotsna Suri tells Utpal K Banerjee why she chose these women
India’s two premier epics — Ramayana and Mahabharata — could truly be regarded as proto-historical: in the uncanny accuracy of the milieus lived in; authentic links with the prevailing social fabric; and amazing insights into the surrounding flora and fauna. Most of all, their characters were drawn from real flesh-and-blood: with incredibly true perception of human frailties and foibles, and yet with pointers to the rare heights of courage, achievement and integrity that mere mortals could eventually ascend.
Sita and Draupadi — the noble women protagonists of the two epics — are prime examples of femininity that could be ever conceived. Both were divas of steely stamina and their strong bends of mind — with loyalty to their consorts notwithstanding — never wavered and indeed, decided on the courses of history. Sita’s determination to suffer a 14-year-long exile into forests with her husband; suffering of an inconceivable ignominy in lanka; willing submission to a fire-ordeal; and the prayer — when a second ordeal was proposed — to return to Mother Earth’s shelter where she came from, years ago. Draupadi was ordained to be polyandrous by destiny, a relationship that she bore with great dignity throughout her life; and her strong resolve for revenge at the outrageous disrobing of hers in public determined the events of the terrible Kurukshetra war that was nothing less than a holocaust.
Face to Face: A Theatrical Dialogue in Bharatanatyam, recently presented by Jyotsna Suri’s Dance Company — under the aegis of Natya Ballet Centre — was an imagined confrontation between these two powerful women from the Indian mythology. The narrative around Sita and Draupadi drew sustenance from the epics, but interrogated all the while, from own viewpoints, their whole raison d’etre for existence. The under-pinning of their turbulent lives, the power and compassion that they both shared, were brought to the limelight. This was done through well-crafted dance, soft and subtle music, tense dramatic moments, scorching theatrical dialogues and an over-whelming sense of history.
To take one instance, when the character of Sita asks Draupadi how could she possibly accept five husbands to lord over body, the wondering response was: possibly she hankered too much after the loftiest of truthfulness, the highest of strength, the utmost of bravery, and even the most skilled of horsemanship in the man of her dreams, so that she was given the physical mix of all five qualities by her fate! It was a worthwhile performative experience.
Extracts from interaction with the director-choreographer:
Why did you select Sita and Draupadi over other mythical female charactersIJ
I thought these two women were perhaps the most abiding symbols of Indian womanhood, who have passed the tests of time without an iota of blemish on themselves.
How do you distinguish strengths of their individual charactersIJ
The stories of their birth gave them distinguishing traits. Sita was born out of the furloughs of earth, when her father Janaka was ploughing the soil. So she had an earthy streak of compassion and grace, Draupadi, on the other hand, rose from fire, when King Drupada was conducting the sacrificial pyre. So she had a fiery temperament and was fierce in her vindictiveness.
How did you design the choreographyIJ
I followed two distinctive choreographic patterns. For Sita, I enabled her inter-action with other characters, like Rama and Ravana. So she had a more spread-out span of dance. In contrast, I let Draupadi do all the roles in her life herself in ekaharya abhinaya (single character enacting multiple roles in the same costume): permitted by Bharatanatyam and many other classical dances.
How trained were your young dancersIJ
In my company, they commence when quite young and continue till they’re married, Some come back even after they’re married. So usually it’s a long period of grooming.
How about the music which was quite soothingIJ
The music, comprising classical Carnaritic, Hindustsani and bhajan music, was specially composed and sung by the renowned Carnatic vocalist OS Arun.
What ‘s the relevance of your theme todayIJ
Women still need to fight out the daily battles of their life. Our Sita’s constantly face fire-ordeals and are always expected to overcome them; otherwise, they’re doomed. Our Draupadies are regularly bruised and dishonoured. They need the rage to turn back!