An outburst of creative emotions

Lively recital

The performance was a choreographic adaptation of the famous Malayalam play Lankalakshmi, written by C N Sreekantan Nair. The one-and-half hour presentation was a treat for the audience with aesthetic elements.

The play was depicted in a dance form and the single performer, Rajashree Warrier, portrayed all the characters like those of Ravana, Sita, Hanuman, Rama and Lakshman effectively. She made efforts to visualise the dramatic moments in Ravana’s life.

“The whole performance is about the protagonist Ravana. The play is written from Ravana’s point of view. I won’t draw any comparison between the characters of Rama and Ravana.

It’s an effort to look at Ravana from a different angle,” said Rajashree before her performance.  The performance began with an invocation song, Bhaja Manasa Vighneshwara... seeking blessing from Lord Ganesha. Rajashree entered the stage portraying the character of Hanuman, who enters Lanka and witnesses the splendour of Lanka and Ravana.

Later on, she immersed into different facets of the character by bringing in the limelight the varied traits of Ravana as a father, husband, brother, a patriot, a devotee of Shiva and a connoisseur of art. She did a wonderful job while expressing feelings like love, lust, doubt, fear, anger and vengeance.

Another noticeable aspect throughout the performance was that the artiste established an identity of each character through her flexible body movements and expressions.  
In the last scene, she portrayed the character of Sita who was all set to return to Ayodhya after the fierce war between Rama and Ravana. Even though Sita hated Ravana throughout her stay in Lanka, she secretely acknowledges Ravana’s love for her. “I brought this change in my performance which was not in the original play,” said Rajashree.

She admitted that it was a difficult job to portray all the characters. “Even after knowing this, I decided to take up Lankalakshmi as it gave me an opportunity to explore myself to the fullest. And I used navarasas effectively to make it a lively piece,” she added.

On the whole, it was a brilliant showcase of dance, dramatic elements and music. Neelamberu Suresh accompanied the dancer on nattuvangam, Reju Nair on vocal, Shrikanth Tripunittara on mridangam, Thirunallur Ajith on violin and V Soundara Rajan on veena.