Impact of Tamil cinema on Bharatha Natyam

by Subashini Pathmanathan

During the Chola period, Sathir the traditional temple dance of devadasis was in the heyday of its glory. The Chola kings, Raja Raja Cholan, Rajendra Cholan and Kulothunga Cholan, made endowments to devadasis, and fostered the art. The Nayaka Kings and Marathi Kings also contributed to the development of Sathir.

One of the Marathi kings, Thulaja Maharaja in 1710 A.D wrote a thesis. In that he dealt with a number of adavus. Under the British rule, Sathir fell into disrepute because of the loss of patronage and the devadasis, gained ill repute, largely because of their poverty.

In the 19th century the Thanjore Quartetee laid the foundation, the marga (repertoire) and arrested the waning interest in Sathir. A firm foundation was laid for the subsequent development of Bharatha Natyam.

Eclipse

In the closing years of the 19th century, and about the early 20th century, Sathir suffered eclipse. However, the great scholar Krishnaiyer and Rukmani Devi fostered and revived the art, which became known as Bharatha Natayam. During the period, drama (not dance) held centre stage, but due to the practical difficulties of staging dramas in various places and development of technology, the cinema emerged as a potent force. This led to the eclipse of drama. The cinema consisted spoken verses, music, dance, and theme based drama. With the introduction of the cinema, the films screened were on puranic and epics themes. Yet a social film Thillana Mohannamabal contained many dances based on classical music.

Most of the actors of yesteryear became film stars and drama companies were converted into cinema studios. In the cinema various classical dance scenes were included and interwoven with the stories. Beautifully designed costumes and attractive ornaments were worn. These were the main attractive features which influenced the younger generation.

Choreography

To train dancers for the cinema, the producers engaged traditional gurus to teach and train the actors. Perhaps the fame of Vazhuvoor Ramiahpillai was his successful choreography of dances to the films.

Among those, who were successfully moulded by Vazhuvoor Ramiahpillai were Lalitha, Padmini, Rahini, Vyjayanthimala, Hemamalini, and Kamala Lakhmanan. They were the icons of Indian Tamil cinema. The classical dances in the cinema helped Bharatha Natyam to acquire worldwide fame.

Tragically by the end of the 20th century the South Indian cinema, introduced razzle dazzle dances, to stimulate the interest of the younger generation and with this development, the interest in the pure classical dance has began to wane.