ST MARK'S ROAD: There are rules, but there is more to Bharatanatyam than that, believes dancer-actor Shobana. Her latest eclectic production Samadhina, to be performed at Chowdiah Memorial Hall later this month, explores this.
With the tagline 'A Tryst with Spirituality', the production begins with a piece on Shiva but blends in Sufi,
Indian and Western classical music by Vijay Ghate, Sanjoy Das, Anil Srinivasan and an orchestra in the margam, while weaving in bits from the Bible as well.
While in the city to talk about the performance, she elaborated on the forms and movements she has incorporated into it. "For the Qawwali music, I didn't think a javali (traditional love song using poetic imagery) would go with it, so the movements are more like Kathak; for the Bible bit — about Mary Magdeline — they're more like belly-dancing. The Radha-Krishna sequence has an Odissi touch."
So how authentic is it, someone asked her. "Well, when you talk about authenticity, what is it really? Because Bharatnatyam has been traced back 5,000 years, when it was performed in temples. Is it performed the same way now? No. Ethnicity? Yes, I can promise you that. Authenticity, I don't know," she said.
For all the innovation, there are some things old school about Shobana. She reveres discipline and feels that it makes way for fun, and she will never cancel a show that she's already been booked for, at least not for a film.
"Only in case of emergencies, you can cancel," she said.
She does not enjoy being asked whether she sees herself more as an actor or a dancer. "The question is, what do you see me as?" She refuses to be boxed into one category. "There are quite a few who are both — Vyjayanthimalaji, Padminiji, Sitara Devi...
I belong there."
And though cinema and dance are an integral part of her life, she does not wish to blend the two. If time permits and if a film is meaningful, no matter what language, she's willing to sign up. But she was quick to add, "I don't want to do dance roles."
Going into a trance
Shobana said Samadhina has no film music. "It's not important to get in more variety. What's important is the kind of experience you create for your audience," she said.
Samadhina means trance. "We have Sufi, mystical music; Krishna, master of mysticism; Devi, whose tantric form we deal with. So I thought this would be a good title." The show is a fundraiser for the 30-odd children at Vishranthi, an orphanage, on Hosakote-Malur Road.
When asked where else she wants to take the production, and she replied, "Everywhere. Who wouldn't?"
Of the two big Kannada actors she has worked with in her film career, she recalled Vishnuvardhan, whom she worked with in Indra Dhanush (2000), as being a "calm, good and gentle man".
Ambareesh, the other star she has worked with, in Giri Bale (1985), is part of an 80s chat group, where the members ping each other. "We ping too, by the way," she laughed. "He's not very active on it...his wife is. I visited him recently. He has not been well lately, but he's the same."