On 17/11,
there were 2017 lucky people who got to watch Anjaneyam.
Such was
the quality of the programme, many a people wondered how such a mammoth
production hung together. So, when Aravinth Kumarasamy , the brain behind Anjaneyam invited for the Anjaneyam
- Post Performance Dialogue, one kind of grabbed at it :-)
A group
of like-minded art aficionados gathered last Sunday to understand how this
mammoth production could have been staged.
And we
were not disappointed.
Aravinth
answered a number of questions about the genesis of Anjaneyam, the trials and
tribulations - at least parts of it, its impact on art scene and practitioners
and the support that the groups get from people so on and so forth.
Starting
from the fact that Anjaneyam took its ideas from the different Ramayanas
written by Valmiki, Kambar, Tulsidas and Java's very own Kakawin Ramayana +
that reference by Kalidasa who is supposed to have deciphered Hanumad Ramayana
- scrumptious research that started 3.5 years ago!
Then
there was the significant influence of Javanese stylized dance form of Ramayana
- who are still supported by the royal courts of Java (Yogyakarta and
Surakarta) still dancing to the Kakawin Ramayana written in the ninth century
AD.
Aravinth
did touch upon the value that a dramaturge added to the
production in terms of acting as the real sounding board, providing valuable
inputs from conception through production.
When
asked about the different dance forms in the production and whether it was a
difficult task to bring dancers from different schools & styles, both
Aravinth and one of the choreographers Mohanapriyan Thavarajah (also the chief
costume designer for Anjaneyam), felt that it wasn't the case. They elaborated
by drawing attention to the fact that almost everyone was a character rather
than a pure-dancer. Even the gandarva nymphs had to act as the divine ladies
rather than as dancers; in fact, the only time the dancers were on stage as
dancers was in the Ravana's court! Else, they were trees, sea monsters, fire
maidens, citizens of Ayodhya etc. So, the dance vocabulary created in Anjaneyam
was more around the characters rather than the dancers themselves. Yes, the
tree dance, the sea-monster dance, the fire dance sequences were having
elements of Bharatanatyam - but they borrowed heavily from contemporary dance
forms as well.
Not to
mention the seamless interaction with the Javenese dance form - especially the
Trijada sequence where the Javanese dancers would gracefully go about
interacting with Sita (to the Gamelan music) who will be responding through Bharatanatyam
movements.
Another
integration highlight was the performance of Ravana – who though not conversant
with the Bharatanatyam movements, was at ease with handling a Veena (a
traditional lute like instrument used in Carnatic music concerts) including mimicking
the hand/finger movements during a particular dance sequence.
As much
as he was happy about the positive reception that the programme
received, Aravinth was seemed to be more happy and passionate when he brought in the aspects
of watch-and-learn as a key teaching method as used in the oriental learning
circles. He quoted the example of the kid-Hanuman so ably portrayed by Karthi.
Karthi was a gymnastics student who was auditioned and chosen for the
role. Though he would have known that his is the central character, he probably
would not have known that his character will grow within the production and be
performed by such doyens of Bharatanatyam such as Atul Babu, Hari Padman and
Balagopal. No pressure! But the fact that the boy was at the rehearsals day in and
day out, the interest that he showed to watch others dance even though his
portions were done and the reality that even today, he is able to repeat the portions of
many other dancers from the production without any formal dance training – all of
these bear testimony that art is as much technique and skill as Attitude!
Oh,
little Karthi did surprise everyone with a nice memento to all the dance
participants towards the end of the session.
It was while discussing about the costumes, the research quotient of Anjaneyam went up a few
notches in my mind. Each of the costumes – right from the Apsaras to the trees,
to the monsters, to Rama, Lakshmana, Hanuman, Sita, Trijada, Ravana, Jatayu –
had a huge amount of research imprinted (pun intended!) on them. It was a clever
and innovative mix of the traditional dresses with the Javanese batik (Rama has
a batik when in the forest and a different one when in the palace! Such was the
meticulous nature of the preparation!) All costumes were hand-drawn, discarded,
redrawn, discarded and redrawn until the final product came up. To me the pièce
de résistance was
Ravana’s headgear. Instead of a horizontal depiction of Ravana’s ten heads
(yes, he must have had tough time when suffering from headaches!), the deca-heads
were depicted vertically through an intricate crown made of rubber (less
weight, doesn’t move!). Aravinth says that it is an inspiration from
Thai/Cambodian Ravana; I say that is painstaking research 😊
If it was
all sound, light and costumes where the research went in, pat comes the answer:
No! The script (written over more than 12 months – music composed over 18
months – rehearsals over 18 months with a couple of acts performed in June
2018) drew heavily from Valmiki, Tulsidas and Kambar – especially the genius of
Kambar when he came to Aravinth’s rescue many a time including the humorous rejoinder
by Hanuman to Ravana (that is a good enough material for a separate post in
itself!)
When
responding to a question on the financial outlay for the production, Aravinth was
quite forthright; it is easy to get the audience to watch the programme. But
what is critical is to get the businesses to support the art productions such
as Anjaneyam. While there are a number of institutions in town to produce shows,
it is important that they are all supported ably by the art sponsors to produce
quality. Better co-operation amongst the practitioners? Perhaps, that is the
medicine of the day!
Talking
about co-operation, it was heartening to see tutors and office-bearers from
other institutions attending the session including Vidhya Nair and Subina Khaneja
from SIFAS. Vidhya even suggested an extraction and deep-dive performance of
Bala-Hanuman to portray the pre-Rama Hanuman – a colourful character I
believe!
All in
all, it was a stimulating couple of hours which gave an insight into the
creative process that went into Anjaneyam.
Oh,
forgot about one thing. They say charity starts at home. In Aravinth’s case, critiquing
starts at home, perhaps 😊! The last question of the day was from his daughter who asked him about
what the areas of improvement would be! So much for producing a great show!
#Anjaneyam
#ResearchQuotient100
Photos Courtesy: Apsaras Arts
Photos Courtesy: Apsaras Arts
