Making Bharathanatyam look simple is an Art

R. Janani- Student of Roja Kannan

A number of sabhas are making an honest effort to encourage and motivate youngsters to perform and get the rewards of their many years of learning.  Dasyam Yuva Festival and Vipanchee are two such dynamic organizations.  Today, I got a chance to attend the Bharathanatyam performance of R. Janani.  (Full disclosure: My daughter learns from Janani's mother- K. Subha.)

One thing that stood out at the performance was the enthusiasm of the dancer.  Right through the performance, she was smiling, showed no fatique, and was extremely vibrant.  Her white teeth showing could be mistaken for a Close-Up advertisement.  Her tempo was quite fast but she made the whole performance look simple, while still getting out the story.  During these performances, my daughter and I try to figure out what the dancer is saying through the movements.  In this case, Kaveri was able to comprehend and explain what the dance was about.  Of course, the giveaway was that it was related to Lord Krishna!!  Watching kids like Janani performance encourages other kids to also want to perform publicly. 

Bharathanatyam movement

Janani is a 10th standard high school student from Chennai.  I have seen her practice dance with Subha and learn abinaya's from Saranya (Kaveri music teacher).  The thillana piece generated a lot of claps from the audience.  Her abinaya was very well choreographed and allowed her to express the story  in a way that 4 year-old could figure out.  Her selection of songs were very good.  Moreover, her finale with a kavadi chindh was really creative and changed the tone, from being a monotonous "Krishna story" to a lively Southern piece.

Accompaniments to R. Janani.  Nattuvangam by Roja Kannan

A special mention must be made of the Compere.  She spoke very well clearly and explained the song before Janani started the performance.  It was very helpful for parents such as myself to explain the dance.  The accompaniments were veterans, which was nice and is a true encouragement for an youngster. The dancer's mother was glowing and her beaming face was brighter than the dancer.  It was truly a great performance.

The real problem in today's Sabha performance is that the top performers get the crowd.  Very few folks attend the up-and-coming.  This is a serious mistake.  If you are looking for the next MS, you are not going to find it in a Aruna Sairam kutchery.  People's mentality must change.  In American football, the scouts and agents attend High-School football to find the next Joe Montana.  I do not see it in these Sabhas.  Even the organizers of Dasyam, like Gopika Varma, did not attend today's performance.  To the credit of the auditoriums, they do have a nice atmosphere and a good facilities.  Youngsters must be rewarded for their talent and options must be attractive to make this their livelihood. 

The talent is there, the culture is there, high-quality education is available, auditoriums are established.  So, what really ails the industry.  If you are involved with Bollywood or Pop/fusion/Rap, you get a multi-million dollar pay check (cheque).  Here, most people simply get the satisfaction and a thank you ponnadai.

Chocolate Krishna- Taking comedy beyond MMKR

Tickets to the Crazy Creation drama Chocolate Krishna

I have seen almost all the stage plays by Manohar, S. V. Sehkar, Crazy Mohan, Kathadi Ramamurthy, Cho, Varadarajan, Y. G. Mahendran and Visu.  Chocolate Krishna is the best of the best for comedy.  Chocolate Krishna is a Tamil stage drama from Crazy Creations.  Crazy Creations is the stage group run by Crazy Mohan (http://www.crazymohan.com/) and Maadhu Balaji. Chocolate Krishna takes comedy delivery to another plateau.  It excels in almost every phase of a stage drama- delivery, dramatization, confusion, characterization, language, wit and above all - simplicity.  

Chocolate Krishna is about a typical Tamil middle-class household with common problems.  Maadhu is the breadwinner and a firm believer in Lord Krishna.  He believes that putting his trust in Krishna will solve all his misfortunes.  The story is about how the family fortunes are transformed by the arrival of a guest and how they deal with it.  The misfortunes of a normal family are turned it into a sequence of hilarious events.  Chocolate Krishna is all about the dialogues and the interaction between all the main characters.  The dialogues were all punchlines.  The best one's used the nuances of Tamil and their anatomy in English.  For my American friends, this drama would resemble the popular TV serial 'Friends' for it's ability to turn misfortune into comedy. 

Michael Madana Kama Rajan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Madana_Kama_Rajan) was the epitome of comedy in Indian movies.  It has been regarded as a landmark in Tamil cinema.  Chocolate Krishna matched this one-for-one.  MMKR had Kamal Hasaan.  Chocolate Krishna has Maadhu Balaji. Kamal Hasaan delivered dialogues in different accents.  Maadhu delivered instant reactions punchlines, like it was the first time he had heard the words.  It did not look rehearsed, even thought it was the 400th screening. 

Crazy Mohan's script flowed so well and effective that even a sub-five year-old was rolling with laughter.  Unlike movies, the presentation has to be flawless and continuous, which it was.  The jokes were counters comments or take on the Tamil words.  Also Tamil phrases were modified to work with the situation and to create a climax.  The story moved so fast that you were still rolling from the first one when the next arrives.  At some points, 5-6 comic situations were occurring almost simultaneously. At the end there was a nice moral attached to the whole drama.  This was way better than a DJ playing on the Gramophone or dancing to a live rock-n-roll music session at a 5* hotel.

Deepak Shankar and A. S. Aiyar with Crazy Mohan

We were fortunate to get front-row seats for this events, thanks to my father-in-law, Gopalie and Crazy Creations.  We were the "Extra Chairs" in the sold out show. You can see the seat number on our entry ticket.  Both Mohan and Balaji are extremely humble and polite personalities. I also found out they are brothers.  But their personalities on stage are quite the opposite.  Maadhu is always jumping off the walls, while Mohan is calm and composed.

This is a must for all and everyone that likes a rolling laugh and is familiar with Tamil.  It is unfortunate that there are no new Stage groups rising up to continue this glorious traidition.  Crazy Crations has finished 33 years of existence.  At this rate, Tamil drama will disappear within our generation.

Happy (2012) New Year everyone.

Vaishnavi, Deepak, Aiyar with Maadhu Balaji of Chocolate Krishna