Playing out passion

Dance is the hidden language of the soul,” said the legend Martha Graham. And Prabal Gupta, a sought-after Kathakali dancer, choreographer and research scholar based in Bengaluru, not only believes in those words, but has also made dance his life.

This is the one question he is always asked — “Why have you chosen Kathakali of all the classical dance forms?” Prabal says, “The uniqueness of Kathakali, the painted faces, the vigorous masculine movements, the dramatisation, the sounds of the musical instruments chenda, edakka and maddalam, its mysticism — all have drawn me to it.”

But revisiting his childhood in Kolkata, he theorises, “Perhaps the passion for dance my mother had, which she could not fulfill because of societal pressures, came to me. I was initiated into dance at age 3. I first learnt Odissi for a year-and-a-half, but since it was a women-dominated field then, my parents decided I should switch to Bharatanatyam. And I did, for 5 years. But my love for Kathakali eventually turned me towards it.”

New roots
Prabal, providing some historical context, says that Rabindranath Tagore invited Kathakali exponent Kelu Nair to Kolkata, thereby sowing the seeds of Kathakali there. Tagore’s dance-dramas featured this dance form to portray male characters. In 1955, another dance legend, Kalamandalam Govindankutty, moved to Kolkata and established himself as a teacher of Kathakali. “I was enraptured by his aura, so I approached him for dance lessons. But he advised me to rest my body for 6 months to rid any influence of Bharatanatyam in Kathakali,” Prabal recalls.

Perhaps the toughest move he has had to make is to move to Bengaluru to pursue dance, because he admits that it was tough  to convince his parents about his interest. “I left Kolkata against the wishes of my parents. But they eventually understood my zest for it, and what I am today is because of their support.”

Later, he says, his teachers helped him to understand the nuances of the highly-stylised dance-drama. From the 90s, his performances have the attention of critics and connoisseurs of the dance form.

Many roles
Prabal is now a disciple of the Kathakali exponent and research scholar Sadanam Balakrishnan. His own research papers are — The Art of Kathakali, Then and Now, A Comparative Analogy and The Biological Nomenclatures of Streevesham and its Aesthetic Transformation while performing Kathakali Streevesham by a Male.

As a choreographer, he lends his expertise to other productions apart from his own. His Kathakali production, Lady Macbeth, is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. “It’s not easy to choreograph such pieces, because one has to be thorough with the original to conceptualise the same through traditional dance-drama. Lot of hard work goes into research.”  The production When Parallels Meet is a confluence of Kathakali and Odissi dance styles. “The training in Odissi during my childhood has helped me in choreography. My gurus have advised me to widen my horizon of understanding dance by watching all Indian classical dance forms,” he adds. This apart, he has choreographed Tagore’s Shyama in Kathakali, Odissi and Yakshagana styles in order to effectively portray the story’s vibrant characters. While collaborating, he says, “One has to be extremely careful while working with other dancers. For the exchange of ideas, one must understand the nature of other collaborators. I execute the trial-and-error method before I mix up ideas to make the production more elegant.”

Prabal cherishes his experiences of performing in many, many major dance festivals across India. One incident stands out for him, though: “In Kolkata, while enacting Geethopadesam from the Gita, I played Lord Krishna as manifesting his divine power through what is called the Viswaroopa Darshana. In response to the halo effect around my back and the sounds of the conch and other percussion instruments there, the viewers got up from their seats and began praying! Later, a woman approached me and began crying! She had gotten emotional after watching that act. After this episode, I considered Kathakali as my profession,” he recalls.

Prabal looks forward to do more work, to promote the beauty of Kathakali around the world.