Anjaneyam: Peak of Research!

 

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