Krishna – The Eternal Charmer


After I read The Immortals of Meluha, I thought I could never revere anyone but Lord Shankar or Mahadev. He swept me off my feet, and how! Mahadev became the ‘dude’ lord for me.  However, my love for this dude lord notwithstanding, I  now, have a new found love and that is, the eternal charmer and love of Radha’s life, Lord Krishna. This is a result of a multimedia dance drama-ballet ‘Krishna’, by accomplished and popular South Indian actress and dancer Shobhana.

The show was held at Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium in Pune on September 6th at 7.30 pm. It was an evening to remember for a long time to come for me. The show started with some breathtaking snippets from Krishna’s life, the most prominent being Kansa’s death at the hands of adolescent or even younger Krishna. And then came the surprise element. Suddenly, the dancer playing Krishna and the others around started dancing on title track from the film ‘Dhoom’. From then on, it was a magical journey of major events in Lord Krishna’s life, depicted through dance, dialogues and bollywood songs. Mind you guys, the dialogues were not enacted by some non descript voice over artists. The voices Krishna, Radha, Gandhari, Draupadi, Duryodhan got were lent by none other than the likes of Shabana Azmi, Nandita Sen, Konkona Sensharma and Milind Soman. There were visual backgrounds, slides and beautiful music, in sync with the events and scenes portrayed from Krishna’s life and times. For example, the story where Krishna supports a mountain on his little finger to save the village from the rain gods is performed on the track Ghanan ghanan from Lagaan.

As Shobhna made her grand entry on the stage as the Lord, there was a huge uproar and whistling. Only Lord Krishna, amongst all the three gods from the ‘Trimurti’ (Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh) seems to have accepted this life. Krishna never forbade himself or others to let go off the pleasures of this world. His romance and unparallel love for Radha, his brotherly love for Draupadi and his love for Yashoda and Nand were simply enchanting.  Shobhna danced away gracefully, aptly depicting Krishna with all the hues and shades of his character. The choreography was beautiful, blending Bharatnatyam with a dash of Bollywood, folk and contemporary. Some of the formations were simply mesmerizing. The dialogues were naughty, witty and humourous, adding spice to the ballet. While the overall tone of the ballet was clearly in tune with how we have been envisaging Krishna to be since childhood – impulsive, flamboyant, believing in the moment, no holds barred, witty, there were parts where the tragedy and grief of his life came across strongly.

The instance where the great Mahabharata war gets over and Gandhari mourns the death of her sons and curses Krishna, was like a spear which went right through my heart. I felt goose bumps at that moment. Another instance which stood out was when Radha is upset with Krishna because he is not paying any attention to her. It was performed beautifully on ‘Madhuban mein jo kanhaiyya,’ again from Lagaan. Last, but not the least, the show stealer moment was when Krishna, who runs this universe as is  believed, shows his ‘Viraat Roop’ to Arjuna. Krishna is rendering the Bhagwat Gita and at one point during his rendition he takes on that Virat Roop to convince Arjuna to go and fight. Yes, even if it meant raising a weapon against his family members. That Virat Roop was simply spectacular, and so was Shobhna again, all the while. She was an absolute delight, portraying Krishna in a unique way I had never seen before.  I was completely enamoured by her style, grace and posture essaying Krishna in the best way possible. But as all good things come to an end, the show got over at 10 pm and so does my blog! Jai Shri Krishna!

Comments

  1. Wow.... I couple visualize it... Thnx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I felt like I was right there in the auditorium while reading this. Very engaging and lively. Please don't stop writing. Peace!

    ReplyDelete

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