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A classic retold, classically

NARESH GULATI

Kalidasa’s “Meghadoot” was revived in a performance at Darpana Academy of Arts.



Eye-catching A scene from “Meghdoot”.

The fourteenth season at Natrani, the amphitheatre club of Darpana Academy of Arts, organised a remarkable performance on Kalidasa’s Meghadoot by its in-house performing group last Saturday. The ‘Natrani’ season s tarted a week back with Rajasthani folk singing after the Monsoon break.

Based on elements of Kathakali (sans the layers of colourful make-up, the usual heavy costumes and accessories), Kudiyattam, Bharatanatyam and Mohiniattam, the performance went down well with the staple audience at the packed amphitheatre. This is in spite of it being an old production, which was revived for the Ganesh festival in Mumbai and repeated for Amdavdis.

Choreographed jointly by doyenne Mrinalini Sarabhai and Sasidharan Nair, this seventy-five minute performance flows on the stage from minute one. The troupe enacted sequences in the dance-drama effortlessly from the beginning to the end.

Kalidasa’s Meghadoot is a narrative by the lovelorn Yaksha, where he beckons the cloud to act as his emissary and take his message of love to Yakshini, his wife left behind in Alkapuri, while he serves a curse in exile for a year at Ramagiri.

An attendant in the workforce of the wealth God Kuber, this Yaksha enrages the Lord who was stung by a wasp tucked inside a flower string made for him. Yaksha is thus cursed to the exile.

Hailed for its excellent portrayal of nature and diversity, Meghadoot is a great work in romanticism that captures the feminine beauty and the viraha bhava. The verses in the epic poem take its reader on a journey through the land, cities, rivers, mountains, flora and fauna of the country called Bharat as known through ancient history and as depicted in Hindu mythology.
Hindu deities

Major Hindu Gods like Vishnu, Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Kartikeya, Laxmi and Janaki are described in the work. Dashanana or Ravana, as he was later known, also finds a place in the scheme of the work in an episode where he tries to remove Mount Kailas from his way.

Nair, who plays the role of Yaksha, while Mallika Sarabhai plays Yakshini, essayed their roles with equal élan. Nair and Mallika, in fact, double up in their roles. Nair narrates the storyline not only with recitation of Sanskrit shlokas, but also with emotive enactment, hand movements and facial expressions in several sequences that comes close in excellence to Kathakali and Kudiyattam. Mallika reappears as the courtesan during the long interlude between Yaksha and Yakshini’s separation and reunion and fascinates with the coquettish mannerism befitting her character. Another dancer who excels is the one who plays Kuber, Shiva and Krishna with lyrical fluidity.

Maheshwari Nagrajan and J. N. Nair carried the performance with their soulful and flawless singing of the Sanskrit verses, while Rajesh on flute, Shaji on violin, Palanivelu on Mridangam and Mankandan on Chenda and Edakka comprised the traditional orchestra.