KOCHI: An alleged racist comment by a Mohiniyattam artist triggered a row in Kerala's cultural sphere on Thursday.
Kalamandalam Sathyabhama, a 66-year-old veteran artist who runs a dance school in Thiruvananthapuram passed denigrating remarks against a particular artist in Chalakudy in an interview with a YouTube channel.
Disparaging the artist's complexion, she said he looked like a crow. It has been alleged that the artist was referring to RLV Ramakrishnan, younger brother of late actor Kalabhavan Mani.
"There is an artist in Chalakudy whose complexion is similar to the crow. Even the mother who gave birth to him cannot bear his performance. Besides Mohiniyattam is an art form where you have to keep the legs wide apart. It looks vulgar when men perform it. In my opinion men who performs Mohiniyattam should look fair," she said in the interview.
The video went viral and with it the row gained momentum. Ramakrishnan lost no time in retaliating.
RLV Ramakrishnan said he will initiate legal action against the artist.
"My black complexion is my beauty and it is the identity of my race. A woman who uses the name of Kalamandalam said I am black as a crow and only people who are fair and beautiful whould perform Mohiniyattam. She says even the mother who gave birth to me cannot bear my complexion. These people make it difficult for artists belonging to the Dalit community to survive in the field. I will continue my fight to bring such people before the law," RLV Ramakrishnan said responding to Satyabhama's comments.
"I had completed my Mohiniyattam course at RLV college in Tripunithura in 1996. I passed MA Mohiniyattam course from MG University with first rank after spending four years for my diploma and post diploma. I was the top scorer for the MPhil course in Performing arts at Kalamandalam. I completed my PhD in Mohiniyattam at Kalamandalam and cleared the NET exam qualifying myself for the post of assistant professor. Besides, Doordarshan has graded me as an A grade artist.I have been working as guest lecturer at Kalady Sanskrit University and RLV college for the past 15 years," he said.
Ramakrishnan said the same person had humiliated him in 2016 when he had applied to perform at the Kerala Tourism Fest.
“This woman was the festival coordinator at that time. She took my contact number from the application form and called asking about my credentials. She was very arrogant and the words were very insulting,” he said.
Satyabhama's version
"A YouTube channel came to interview me and I shared my experience and view about Mohimiyattam. I never referred to RLV Ramakrishnan in the interview,” Kalamandalam Satyabhama told TNIE.
“I have served as judge at University Youth Festivals and have been training students in Mohiniyattam for the past 35 years. In youth festival we have to judge the performance of the Mohiniyattam based on five norms and one of them is beauty. If beauty is not a criteria, why the government has included it as one or the norms to judge the performance. One of my students had participated in the recent youth festival and the judge has written that she is not fair,” she said.
Regarding the allegation that she insulted the artist referring his complexion to that of a crow, Satyabhama asked what is wrong about the complexion of a crow.
“The channels are trying to denigrate me by twisting my comments. The police had arrived at my home to investigate the complaint. I gave them the link of the interview and informed that I am ready to face legal action if I had said anything wrong against any artist. I completed my Mohiniyattam course at Kalamandalam where I was taught that beauty is one of the qualities for dance. I believe that beauty is important for a dancer. I will express my opinion openly and that is the reason people don’t consider me for awards,” she said.
'Terrible' says Mallika Sarabhai
Mallika Sarabhai, Dancer and Chancellor of Kalamandalam described Satyabhama's remarks as "terrible" and added that it "reflects her racist and white slavish attitude."
"Birju Maharaj was vastly overweight and not good looking. Nor was Jelucharan Mohapatra. Should they not have danced. Dancing is certainly about technique but more so about an inner beauty. My mother at 95 could just raise her arm in 'Krishna Nee Begane' and our mind's eye could visualise all that love, devotion and beauty. Yes, the packaging is important because we are so conditioned and brainwashed in our aesthetic but after the first few minutes, if a dancer has inner beauty, that is all," she said.