HYDERABAD: It was an evening when poetry of two rich languages - Bengali and Telugu merged, when music of two different genres Rabindra Sangeet and Carnatic complemented each other and when poetic idioms found expression in graceful movements. Recently, at Ravindra Bharathi, Shankarananda Kalakshetra stole the hearts of many poetry and dance lovers of Hyderabad: bringing Rabindranath Tagore once again to the Telugu land, where many a Telugu poet was inspired in the last century by the Nobel Laureate and penned immortal lines.
Ananda Shankar Jayanth, well known for her brilliant dance - theatre productions has revived one of her earlier choreographies (first presented in 2012 on the occasion of Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary), polished it further and embellished it elegantly to present once again, ‘Kavyanjali - An Ode to Gurudev’. She, along with her well trained students from Shankarananda Kalakshetra, paid a rich tribute through Bengali as well as Telugu poetry set to Bharatanatyam.
Poetry and music have always lent themselves to rich compositions in classical dance. They have enriched and elaborated simple and subtle dance movements, at times enshrining the inexpressible pining of a nayika for her lover or the indescribable anguish of a woman slighted.
‘Kaavyanjali - An ode to Gurudev’, chronicles and traces the extraordinary and far reaching impact of Tagore on Telugu writers, and their poetry - juxtaposing an anthology of Tagore’s poetry with a selection of similar, comparable Telugu poetry by Devullapalli Krishna Sastry, Rayaprolu Subba Rao and the poet duo of Balantrapu Venkata Rao and Voleti Parvateesam, showcasing a synergy of themes, thoughts and ideas in Telugu poetry of the early 20th century inspired by Gurudev.
Bengal was in the vanguard of the Indian Romantic movement with Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindra Nath Tagore as the torchbearers. Inspired by them were our sensitive Telugu poets. Among the Telugu romantics Krishna Sastri stood out, embodying in himself a fine sensibility and genuine passion. His sensibility permeated both his art and life, erasing the boundary between the two. For him the poem was a vital experience, and life acquired the intensity of poetry. Among the noted Telugu romantic poets was Rayaprolu Subbarao, who defined Telugu romanticism and began a new era in Telugu poetry: his romantic literature is considered as the watershed in Telugu literature for its modernity of themes.
The event was a visual and aural feast. The imposing narration by Jayant Dwaraknath in his sonorous voice added to the richness. Structured in four sections - Nataraja, Prakruti, Maataram and Gitanjali: ‘Kaavyanjali - An Ode to Gurudev’, choreographed and directed by Ananda Shankar Jayanth and presented in both Bengali and Telugu, seemed Shankarananda Kalakshetra’s wholehearted pranaam to Vishwakavi Tagore and a tribute to the rich Telugu poetry as well.