Often, while watching a dance performance, one may not think beyond the performance of the artistes onstage. What happens beyond and behind the stage is a world known and owned by the artistes and the crew members – filled with memories, stories, efforts, sacrifices, laughter, and tears. Writer and director Anjali Menon’s latest work Backstage, a short film in the anthology Yuva Sapno Ka Safar (released on April 11), as the name suggests, takes the viewers on a ride to backstage storytelling.
Known for her multi-starrer movie Bangalore Days (2014), Menon’s new work dives into the world of Gowri (Padmapriya) and Kanya (Rima Kallingal), two dancers and friends who split up and come back to their alma mater for an event.
Shot in six days and edited in about five weeks, the short was released just in time for International Dance Day, today. For Menon, Backstage was all about exploring the nuances of female friendships within the South Indian dance community, a world often underrepresented in mainstream cinema. “Though classical dance training is com
mon among South Indians, we hardly see that world on our screen; this seemed like an exciting opportunity to do so. Friendships between artistes often get wounded when ambition interferes; it becomes a test of the friendship itself,” she explains.
Menon puts forward a compelling humanisation of artistes and wants the audience to view the dancers as individuals first. “I hope the audience sees the very human and vulnerable side of artistes and how their frailties further affect relationships. The idea of seeing them as characters before we see them adorned in makeup and costume is to not mistake the final aura as the person,” she says. According to Menon, the story explores the stages of dressing up for a performance to actually peel away layers from the individuals these dancers are. “So much of their truest selves emerge when they are completely dressed up. They are inside out,” she explains.
Besides the hats of writer and director, Menon is also a dancer. “I have been fortunate to be trained in Bharatanatyam since I was five and have had exposure to theatre arts at multiple stages. Backstage is a small humble tribute to this world – there is much more to be told, much more to be drawn from that part of my life,” she notes.
Padmapriya, actor
“For many, dance communities were the first working space they must have been into. In dance, there is an important ecosystem to explore a universal notion. And, because we knew so much about dance, we didn’t have to spend too much time building that world. Somehow, it was there in us,” says Thamassu-actor Padmapriya.
Rima Kallingal, actor
“In the two dance sequences we see in the film, dancing together shows bonding and forgiveness in ways that words could never explain. The first time when they dance together as young students, their rhythm and energy flow together. In the end, when Gowri forgives Kanya, she calls her to join her and go back to that time when they flowed together in movement. Dancing together brings out their connection in great detail and depth,” Kallingal says.