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April 18, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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ARTSCAPE Robi o Radha - a multimedia theatre presentation of an unknown chapter of Rabindranath Tagore’s life, his love for his brother’s wife. It is set in 1877 and marks the 16-year-old Rabindranath’s struggle to become a poet. Hema Malini flew in especially for this performance held at the FICCI Auditorium last week. Prominent members of the Samagam society, such as Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani, Indu Jain, Amjad Ali Khan with his wife and sons, Penaaz Masani, Vasant Sathe, G. N. Khiatan, Sailesh Khaitan, Raja Ram Jaipuria and H. L. Somany graced the occasion. The programme brought together the doyens, like Pandit Jasraj, Hema Malini and Kavita Krishnamurthy to pay their tributes to the greatest socio-cultural icon of the century. The dance ballet, Robi o Radha, is an attempt to recreate the bittersweet story of human desire and divine passion. It is a tragic story told through music, following the tradition of the conventional romantic genre but the addition of historical authenticity adds a new dimension to it. Theatre personality and newsreader Suneet Tandon is the traditional sutradhar, who is a link between the characters on stage and film and the audience. With Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj singing the voice of Tagore and danseuse/actress Hema Malini as Radha, the performance is an audio-visual treat. What makes the performance unique and unprecedented is the use of multimedia. Robi o Radha, uses both the elements of stage as well as film, the story of the film and the dreams of its characters come to life on stage. The action and the actors smoothly step in and out of the film to transport the audience into a magical world where reality is truly fantastic. This is the first time in the history of Indian theatre that proscenium theatre, ballet and cinema have been blended together to become an integrated entity. It is also for the first time that the musical spectacle was being staged in Delhi courtesy, Samagam. Samagam, a society conceptualised and formed by a body of eminent industrialists and philanthropists to preserve, propagate and popularise Indian culture. Samagam is a congregation that hopes to address the needs of various forms of art and culture that influence our attitudes, values, ideals and beliefs. Samagam showcases the visible and public expression of art by inviting reputed artistes from different fields and by expanding opportunities for folk artistes. It also provides a platform by encouraging active participation and by giving scholarships to promising talent. |
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Echoes of excellence in Shreya’s performance When her parents came down to Mumbai, she joined Sur Jhankar to learn Indian folk dance under Vidya Kadam and Rooma Banerjee. At Deekshaa, Shreya blossomed under the tutelage of Bireshwar Gautam, her Kathak guru since 1996. Bireshwar Gautam, a prolific dancer widely travelled, helped Shreya to build up confidence and guided her through years of training with him. Apart from Kathak, Shreya is also learning Hindustani vocal from Jayanti Sundaram at Deekshaa. Years of learning folk and Kathak reflects clearly on her dance the verb and vivaciousness of folk and intricate foot work and facial expressions of Kathak are visible in Shreya’s performances. Shreya has twice won Kala Gurjari Folk competitions as well as inter-school folk dance competitions. Shreya has also performed with her guru Bireshwar Gautam at the Kala Ghoda Dance Festival, Mumbai, as well as The Spirit of Unity Concert at Chennai. She has also performed a short ballet on world peace, at Nehru Centre, choreographed by Bireshwar Gautam. She was part of a group, which went to Greece to represent India in folk dance in the year 1999. Her performances in the dance ballet, Robi o Radha and Prakriti, gave her much acclamation. Her dedication and her vast interest in the dance form of Kathak will surely help Shreya to reach new heights of achievement. |
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Kant’s sculptural skills
AN exhibition by noted artist Ratnabali Kant is on view at the Lalit Kala Academy till April 19. She has the distinction of working in different mediums having a unique characteristic of their own. She got the training in both performing and visual arts and made serious efforts to look for hidden potential in the two arts utilised for the enrichment of both. She gives her mute clay and fiberglass figures a life of their own giving her sculptural compositions a uniqueness. Her most noteworthy contribution to modern Indian art is ‘Installation Performance’, which was later followed by many artists. This breakthrough has proved to be a big step forward in the history of the contemporary Indian art. |
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SHREYA, a student of arts at Mithibai College, started her training in dance justas she learnt to take her first step. She joined Uday Shankar’s academy under the illustrious Amla Shakar in Kathak and folk.