-a repertoire of padams by Sarangapani, Annamaya, Kshetrayya & Bilvamangal
Concept & Presentation by Priyadarsini Govind
Sarangapani
'Vakakaina' - Kapi- Adi
”His indifference to my attire and apearance belie his image of being a great connoisseur” complains Krishna’s lover in disgust.
'Inchu boni'-Panthuvarali-Adi
“Those who gossip about my affair with Krishna are no saints; they have a lot to hide”, the nayika exposes her tormentors.
‘Chitika vesithey’-Kalyani-Adi
Snubbed by the indifference of a girl, Krishna tells her, “how dare you ignore me! At the snap of my fingers I’ll have girls at my feet”.
Annamayya
‘Alugaka kootami’-Bilahari-Adi
“You say life is unexciting without a quarrel, but when we do quarrel, life seems to stop”, complains a nayika.
Bilvamangal
Slokam from Sri Krishna Karnamirdham - Ragamalika
Describes how child Krishna is overwhelmed by Yesoda’s narration of Ramayana.
Kshetrayya
‘Intha moham yemira’- Sankarabharanam - Trupuda
“Tell me, is she that beautiful?”- The heroine, in a bantering mood, taunts the hero about his obsession for another woman.
How abhinaya rolls out a broad canvas for the visual interpretation of padams by a select phalanx of composers has been demonstrated by ' Padma bhushan ' Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan ('Maami' - to her students) , the legendary abhinaya exponent. She flings open the delights of the rich repertoire of the likes of Sarangapani, Annamayya, Bilvamangal and Kshetrayya with a full-blown exposition of the intensity of emotions portrayed and the fine imagery employed.
With her proven abhinaya skills ‘Maami’ re-creates the moods and moments of these composers as they sublimate the mundane man-woman relationship to a magnificent spiritual union.
Arresting , captivating ,enchanting, mesmerizing…adjectives do seem inadequate to describe the kaleidoscopic expressions that explode on Maami’s face.
