Bhagat Singh to Buddha: Dance, theatre mix in out-of-the-box presentations
At the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) was an unusual film on “Vaikhari” produced by Lubdhak Chatterjee, sponsored by Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT). An engineering graduate, Lubdhak attempts looking at “parhant” or the articulation of mnemonics in dance through imagery visually caught on the camera, the film seeking to look at the nature of pure sound and how it connects with form in dance, art and in life. The pattern of sound arrangements in rhythmic phrase and their utterance can suggest a “bindu”, a “rekha” and an “akaar” (dot, line and shape) all attributes of form! In a scene showing Kalidasa’s Meghadootam, sounds like “Ghe ghe tita” suggest the dark clouds which the Yaksha separated from his beloved — and the messenger carrying his words of love to his beloved. Inanimate sound through its patterning and “chhand” becomes an abstract symbol suggesting form. The spacing of the “bols”, the silences, can all convey phrases of movement. The bols in a “bandish” can suggest chirping birds, rain of varying intensity (drizzling or pouring) and many other things. Through the utterance of certain sounds arranged to create a certain effect, in a purvaranga invocation, a canvas is created which the dancer later fills through her dance. Shot almost completely in the variety and beauty of the Mahagami dance institution premises, one sees director Parwati Dutta speaking to her students and directing them on sounds translating to movement, with references to texts. With sounds filling up space, filmed sculptural exuberance of temple architecture acquires a special vibrancy. Sound vocabulary in dance has been inspired not just by percussion mnemonics, but also by nature and its inhabitants. In a brief guest appearance, Pandit Birju Maharaj explains how tonal inflections and every little turn and shift in the syllabic punctuation of a rhythmic composition suggests movement inflections. Parwati mentions Nirgeet, a thousand year parampara, and following her Kathak references also gives examples from the other form she practices — viz Odissi and points to the Vadya Pallavi based on mardal mnemonics, on which she worked with the late Banamali Maharana. A very interesting visualisation of how what is called nonsense syllables finds expression through movement and form.
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