<p>The soulful verses of Rabindranath Tagore were celebrated yet again in the City, but this time in a different style. Three styles of classical dance were fused to present the dance drama Chitrangada, written by Tagore.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Prabal Gupta, the choreographer of the dance, had incorporated three forms of dance — kathakali, bharatanatyam and odissi. While Arjun was played by Parshawanath Upadhyaya, a trained bharatanatyam dancer, Surupa, the feminine side of Chitrangada, was essayed by Prabal himself in the kathakali stree veshyam style and Kurupa, which is the masculine side of the princess, was played by Madhulita Mohapatra in odissi style.All these three styles were amalgamated and Rabindra Sangeet was used along with Sopanam Sangeetam to bring in the kathakali effect.<br /><br />“This was mainly organised to celebrate the 150 birth anniversary of Tagore. It was a small reminder to the young generation who hardly know anything about this multifaceted person and his work. <br /><br />This year, we conducted dance-dramas, lyrical presentation and recital of his songs in Carnatic style,” said Usha Venkataswaran of Natyalakshana Academy.<br /><br />The drama opened with Arjun, who is doing a penance in the woods. Chitrangada, the warrior princess of Manipur who has been raised like a son, is bereft of any feminine attributes. One day on her way to a hunting expedition, she chances upon Arjun who is meditating in the forest. It is love at first sight for Chitrangada. But Arjun, who does not know her identity, dismisses her love as he feels that she is too masculine for his love. The princess then prays to Madana, the god of love, to transform her into a beauty. Her wish is granted and Arjuna immediately falls in love with her. However, when he hears the tales of Chitrangada’s bravery from the villagers, he wants to meet her and the princess shows her real self to Arjun.<br /><br />Parshawanath was flawless in his performance of Arjun and even though he does not follow Bengali, his expressions of disgust, love and admiration convinced the audience about the effort he had put in to understand and prepare for his character.<br /><br />“Initially, it was difficult but my director, Prabal, helped me to get into the skin of the character. The lines were translated in English and explained to me. I had to work hard on my character as I had to romance a man (Prabal who played Surupa),” added Parshawanath.<br /><br />Kurupa, played by Madhulita, was effortless in the portrayal of her character. Not only were her expressions flawless, her dance style was admirable too. Prabal, the choreographer of the show, wanted to experiment and show something new to the audience in the City. “I did a fair bit of research and wanted to try out something new. Since I perform only kathakali, I wanted to showcase Surupa’s character in kathakali stree veshyam,” he informed. <br /></p>
<p>The soulful verses of Rabindranath Tagore were celebrated yet again in the City, but this time in a different style. Three styles of classical dance were fused to present the dance drama Chitrangada, written by Tagore.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Prabal Gupta, the choreographer of the dance, had incorporated three forms of dance — kathakali, bharatanatyam and odissi. While Arjun was played by Parshawanath Upadhyaya, a trained bharatanatyam dancer, Surupa, the feminine side of Chitrangada, was essayed by Prabal himself in the kathakali stree veshyam style and Kurupa, which is the masculine side of the princess, was played by Madhulita Mohapatra in odissi style.All these three styles were amalgamated and Rabindra Sangeet was used along with Sopanam Sangeetam to bring in the kathakali effect.<br /><br />“This was mainly organised to celebrate the 150 birth anniversary of Tagore. It was a small reminder to the young generation who hardly know anything about this multifaceted person and his work. <br /><br />This year, we conducted dance-dramas, lyrical presentation and recital of his songs in Carnatic style,” said Usha Venkataswaran of Natyalakshana Academy.<br /><br />The drama opened with Arjun, who is doing a penance in the woods. Chitrangada, the warrior princess of Manipur who has been raised like a son, is bereft of any feminine attributes. One day on her way to a hunting expedition, she chances upon Arjun who is meditating in the forest. It is love at first sight for Chitrangada. But Arjun, who does not know her identity, dismisses her love as he feels that she is too masculine for his love. The princess then prays to Madana, the god of love, to transform her into a beauty. Her wish is granted and Arjuna immediately falls in love with her. However, when he hears the tales of Chitrangada’s bravery from the villagers, he wants to meet her and the princess shows her real self to Arjun.<br /><br />Parshawanath was flawless in his performance of Arjun and even though he does not follow Bengali, his expressions of disgust, love and admiration convinced the audience about the effort he had put in to understand and prepare for his character.<br /><br />“Initially, it was difficult but my director, Prabal, helped me to get into the skin of the character. The lines were translated in English and explained to me. I had to work hard on my character as I had to romance a man (Prabal who played Surupa),” added Parshawanath.<br /><br />Kurupa, played by Madhulita, was effortless in the portrayal of her character. Not only were her expressions flawless, her dance style was admirable too. Prabal, the choreographer of the show, wanted to experiment and show something new to the audience in the City. “I did a fair bit of research and wanted to try out something new. Since I perform only kathakali, I wanted to showcase Surupa’s character in kathakali stree veshyam,” he informed. <br /></p>
