Review

Abhijnana Sakuntalam:

An enchanting odyssey into Kalidasa’s Sakuntala

By Ranga CHANDRARATHNE
 

Director Deshanethru Kalasuri Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan

Marked for its remarkable blend of traditions, Sakuntalam, Kalidasa’s masterpiece presented by Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo and produced and directed by Aru Sri Arts Theatre is, perhaps, one of the best productions to come from contemporary Sri Lankan theatre. A musical dance drama, though sans dialogues, was able not only to convey the story in vividly realised choreographed acts performed but also through the masterly trained cast who gave life to the characters from the Sanskrit classic.

One of the significant aspects of the musical dance drama was the sheer blend flavours from diverse traditions of dancing such as Kathakali, Kathak, Oddissi, Kuchupudi and Kalari, though the production was fundamentally in Bharathanatyam style. Apart from blending two main stream Indian classical music traditions, dance traditions, lyrics in Sinhala blended well with the accompanying music scores.

The dance drama commenced with a scene where the sage Vishwamitra was in a deep meditation. However, the king of the god Indra sent Menaka, an Apsara (nuptial) to distract the sage from the deep meditation. Menaka succeeded in seducing Vishwamitra leading to the birth of Sakuntala. Eventually Vishwamitra distanced from Menaka and the child. Menaka left the child in the forest. According to the story, the child was protected by birds.

Meanwhile, Kanva Rishi found the child and took her into his Ashram known as ‘Kanva Ashram’, which was on the banks of the Malini River.

The king Dushyanta, on a hunting expedition with his army, met Sakutala and fell in love with her. He gave his ring with royal insignia as a sign of love, promising that he would return. However the story turns a tragic as powerful Rishi Durvasa cursed her as Sakuntala failed to greet him.

According to the curse, the person of whom Sakuntala was dreaming, Dushyanta would forget all about her. On pleading by her friends, the Rishi reduces the curse and that person who had forgotten Sakuntala would regain his memory once the ring that had been given to , being shown to him.

As time passed by, Sakuntala set out to meet her husband king Dushyanta in the city. However, on the way, she dropped her ring into the Ganges. At Dushyanta’s court, she was humiliated as Dushyanta failed to recognise her.

Thus humiliated Sakuntala returned to the forest with her son Bharata.

Meanwhile, a fisherman found the ring with royal insignia in the stomach of a big fish and caught by royal guards while he was attempting to sell it in the market. On seeing the ring, Dushyanta regained his memory of Sakuntala.

The story concluded with the reunion of Sakuntala with Dushyanta.

Innovative presentation

Sakuntalam musical dance drama was, among other things, marked for its innovative presentation. It has excelled in many aspects including in its colourful costumes which represented Hindu culture and the milieu in which the story was set. Particularly the elaborate garments of Dushyanta and that of Sakuntala stood out. The tribal dance of the fishermen with colourful costumes also added allure to the performance. It seemed that Members of Chandana Wickramasinghe’s Dancers’ Guild, who performed the fishermen’s dance, had really captured the mannerism of the fishermen. Another aspect which is noteworthy is that almost all the actors who performed in the dance drama, had mastered their allotted roles. Since diverse flavours from range of dancing traditions had been incorporated into the musical dance drama, the choreography seemed to be a complex exercise.

A scene from Sakuntalam; Abhiramy Kandeepan and Chandana Wicramasinghe

However, Kalasuri Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan and the members of Aru Sri Art Theatre were able to overcome the inherent limitations in diverse traditions of dancing. Perhaps, the most difficult task would have been to synchronise Sinhala lyrics with Carnatic music scores. It should be mentioned here that lyrics were marvellously done by Dr. Praneeth Abeysundara capturing the subtle nuances of scores of moods and emotions demanded by the dance drama.

However, the fact remains that the audience may not feel the subtle fusion of traditions as it is always a struggle between preserving original characteristics of diverse traditions and sacrificing some of the elements in the process of fusing them. Though at times, Sinhala lyrics seemed not perfectly nelded with Carnatic music, it had not disturbed the zest of the drama.

Amazingly, the director has stuck to the tradition throughout the performance. Diverse elements and flavours from range of dancing traditions such as Kathakali, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchupudi and Kalari, with two mainstream Indian Classical Music traditions, have been meticulously incorporated into the dance drama.

Impressive acting

Although Sakuntalam was marked for its impressive acting which was a combination of diverse traditions of classical dancing and music, some of the overplaying had been counterproductive and contributed to lessen the principle zest of the play. For instance, over doing of roaring of the lion was, in fact, counterproductive. Tharaka Pathmila Ovitagedara as lion performed the role convincingly. The impressive costume of the lion together with equally matching colour would have been sufficed to convey the idea of a roaring lion. However, the overdoing of roaring had drawn the music which accompanied with the lion’s performance. Understandably the pronunciation of some Sinhala words was not clear although it had not disturbed the performance.

The orchestra comprised traditional instruments such as Mridangam, Violin, Flute and Tabla. The only non-traditional or out of the tradition instrument used was Keyboard. Choreography for Sakuntalam was entirely by the members of the Aru Sri Art Theatre; Abiramy Kandeepan, Sakitha Kugamoorthy, Lakshmi Subramanium Sharma and Josita Peter. Music for Sakuntalam was by Kalasuri Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan. The cast included Lakshmi Subramanium Sharma (Sakuntala), L.R. Nidheesh Kumar (Guest Artiste, Kalakshetra, India), Chandana Wickramasinghe (Vishwamitra) and Abiramy Kandeepan (Menaka and Gowthamy).