Bangalore recently witnessed Malavika Sarukkai’s “ The Battle Within”, a dramatic interpretation of the Bhagavad Geeta. Malavika stands as a benchmark to most dancers in India and abroad. One often wonders what’s left? What more to explore? After five decades of performing? The Bhagavadgeeta has been used, abused and interpreted in the dance arena from artists of all capacities and it is here that Malavika leaves you spell bound. One witnessed an artiste of her calibre reinventing herself and finding a new voice. Very few artists make an attempt to deconstruct an experience and lay it bare for the rasikas to bask in. She easily made the intangible philosophies tangible.
The haunting notes of Kanakangi engulfed the auditorium with a deep tenor, whilst Jayadeva’s Dashavatara verse unfolded. She unearthed the hidden laya in the raga by tapping her feet with such vigour that it produced echoing sounds. There was not a quiver in her body. The energy that she radiated stood testimony for her inner journey. Her limbs stretched and folded as if they touched perfection. She shifted between her postures transferring the weight and balance of her body from one axis to the other with a strong core.
Aditya Paraksh’s voice hummed Hindola while she depicted the kalachakra. She used strong imagery to show the human quest for power by pounding on the stage with gravitas. The screen transformed into crimson, barren warfields, flags and cosmic imagery while she pointed the story of the battle that was first fought even before the actual battle. It was the “battle within” Arjuna. Vasudha Ravi’s voice was excruciatingly beautiful and reflected Arjuna’s turmoil. At instances, the male and female voices echoed phrases and created this imagery of an Atma Pramatma dialogue. Malavika shivered organically to show how Arjuna trembled. The edges of her limbs shook like a fluttering butterfly while her body broke. The phrases of kedaragowla also pulsating through her inner satvika. With the magnificent kharaharapriya, she enacted Krishna waking Arjuna with her hands clapping. The moment when Arjuna’s chariot turned into a meditative cell with Chakravaka transcending, it shook me as a viewer. Is it not true that all our battles empower us to ponder and look inward? To seek?
The enlightened are referred to as Hamsa in Indian philosophy and hence it was apt to listen to hamsanada unfold as Krishna showed his true form. Malavika did not raise her body to depict height nor widened eyes to show expansiveness of Krishna. She used breathing technique to create the all encompassing transformation. Subtly she turned into Narayana. The tanams using the word “Ananta” (eternal) played out whilst she depicted the resurrection of dharma in cycles by Krishna in a playful manner. The fluidity in her body when she enters the character of Krishna was noteworthy.
Arjuna’s anguish about instability in “chanchalam hi manah krishna” was intelligently layered with rasikapriya (rasika - indulgent). Malavika portrayed the arishadvargas with impact. Shanmukhapriya unfolded as Krishna grants the inner eye to Arjuna, by drawing him into himself. The delight and devastation are in tandem when Arjuna tries to hold infinity within his finite self was expressed beautifully. She sat in her muzhumandi and extended her arms with the suchi hasta and explored the length and breadth of the space before her. His all encompassing nature was depicted with a sense of stillness and uniqueness. Her stretches were so beautiful that it gave an illusion of infinity to her body. Exploring the darker side of the Vishwarupa with the imagery of an all engulfing blackhole on the screen added mysticality.
She surrendered in a sashtanga while tapping stage with the Anjali hasta movingly. Arjuna’s inability to contain ‘the” divine, its heaviness and his emptiness was unveiled over a soulful Kamboji with pure conviction. An observant connoisseur could gather that she was trying to draw everyone into the process. Is it not a battle after all to reinvent oneself and dwell into the new?
But the light is always eclipsed in the end. Its humanly impossible to hold on to that moment for ever. Her silhouette depicted the never ending fire of human desires and the screen portrayed an eclipsing moon. The artist turned to the stage and continued to ride away with a sense of nothingness. Using the kinetics and dynamism of the body as a medium of expression is no mean task. There cannot be a singular interpretation to this performance. Works like these take time to settle in, it makes you uncomfortable at times, leaves you confused at times and throws you off the hook. But isn’t art supposed to be that? A marvellous experience indeed!
Published - November 07, 2019 05:52 pm IST
