tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post4232549545175748931..comments2023-05-17T03:40:26.994-06:00Comments on Cinema Nritya: Film Dances/Appearances of Ram Gopal and Extant Dance FootageMinaiMinaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02868497630163066412noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-15732257021908997602020-06-05T18:31:53.262-06:002020-06-05T18:31:53.262-06:00Edward Dare SparkesEdward Dare SparkesARNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924247476159811528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-16482665027450063352020-06-02T18:37:51.719-06:002020-06-02T18:37:51.719-06:00Hello, I stumbled across this blogpost while doing...Hello, I stumbled across this blogpost while doing some resarch on Ram Gopal (Bissano Ramgopal) for a relative. Ramgopal was my great grand uncle from my mothers side. I met him a couple of times when he visited Bangalore in the 90s. Thank you for your informative post and also some of the comments section. Regards - ArjunARNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924247476159811528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-61842822577947156412020-06-02T18:33:00.015-06:002020-06-02T18:33:00.015-06:00Oh my goodness... , I was looking for Edward Spark...Oh my goodness... , I was looking for Edward Sparkes accounts. I had forgotten the name and the link but had read his description of Ram Gopal (My great grand uncle). So glad you mention the link, thank you very much.ARNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924247476159811528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-57331868788057123422013-01-10T13:52:26.946-07:002013-01-10T13:52:26.946-07:00Minai,
Just google search. You are putting in so m...Minai,<br />Just google search. You are putting in so much effort in these posts that some of us who follow the blog should try to help a bit. But my apologies too. Sometimes I go off at a tangent talking about things that fascinate me like Snehprabhs Pradhan story. You should not hesitate to delete some of my irrelevant comments.gaddeswaruphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16509075029154476375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-78583864944240023992013-01-09T21:16:04.211-07:002013-01-09T21:16:04.211-07:00gaddeswarup - Amazing! That article says the Eleph...gaddeswarup - Amazing! <a href="http://www.dailynews.lk/2004/12/15/artscop01.html" rel="nofollow">That article</a> says the Elephant Walk dance was performed by dancers from the famous dancer Jayana Rajapakse's troupe associated with the Madhyama school (apparently he helped start it)! Which leads me to guess that the lead dancer might be Rajapakse himself, because who better to show off then the troupe leader. The article also identifies three other films the troupe danced in; they're probably Sri Lankan films, but I'll try to find them anyway. :) How amazing, how do you always find such excellent information!<br /><br />Interesting tidbits in your previous comment. Regarding Ram Gopal's legacy it does seem that he didn't really leave any well-known pupils or teach in a serious, intensive, one-on-one kind of way. I've read of a few dancers saying they "learned from Ram Gopal" as some kind of status symbol statement. Ashish Mohan Khokar's <a href="http://www.narthaki.com/info/profiles/profil29.html" rel="nofollow">theory</a> for Ram's lack of students is "that all great masters don’t have students, only followers or copycats." Hmm...MinaiMinaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02868497630163066412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-13165392082967049242013-01-08T17:10:18.500-07:002013-01-08T17:10:18.500-07:00It seems that some famous traditional dancers had ...It seems that some famous traditional dancers had a role in the Kandyan dance in Elephant Walk<br />http://www.dailynews.lk/2004/12/15/artscop01.htmlgaddeswaruphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16509075029154476375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-46605981403435281072013-01-06T22:27:58.473-07:002013-01-06T22:27:58.473-07:00Minai,
I came across that link while looking for s...Minai,<br />I came across that link while looking for some information about Snehprabha Pradhan, a Hindi-Marathi actress from thirties and forties. She was a sort of socialist, daughter of social workers and joined films due to financial problems. Aspiring actors like Dev Anand dreamed bout her. She was married and separated from Kishore Sahu; I think she complained about his libido or some such thing. The link is mainly some sort of memoirs of British soldier Sparkie, (I forget the full name) who landed in Bombay during the war. He seems to have organized some news bulletins on the ship and one of them caused an uproar in India and when they landed in Bombay, there was a protest demonstration organized by K.A. Abbas. When Abbas realized that it was misunderstanding, he invited Sparkie to his house where the leftist Snehprabha was also staying. Lot of the story is about their torrid affair, and the ending of it later in England by which time she seems to have taken up with another soldier. I might have associated Ram Gopal with Burma from those memoirs, I think there were later meetings on the eastern front.<br />Anyway, I admire Snehprabha. Later on she left Hindi movies went on Marathi stage, took care of her mother and did social work. I think that she had a fulfilling life and did not end up as an alcoholic or any such thing which happened to some actresses whose later careers were not successful.<br />Coming back to Ram Gopal and Uday Shankar, Their photos look like Ajanta frescos. Apparently they were dynamic, but lack of rigorous training in one case. and possibly lack of belief in the whole system in Ram Gopal case led their success. May be that also led to some failures. In the case of Uday Shankar there is some legacy in terms of the number of dancers influenced by him though they all took different paths with not much discernible techniques from Uday Shankar. I hope that we won't be too dis appointed when Kalpana becomes available. I am not sure of Ram Gopal's legacy bur from your post it seems that there is some influence.gaddeswaruphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16509075029154476375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-92018103519024249472013-01-06T18:59:26.916-07:002013-01-06T18:59:26.916-07:00gaddeswarup - Thanks for the link, I've not se...gaddeswarup - Thanks for the link, I've not seen it before. It appears to be someone's past reminiscences about Ram Gopal and other people/events, and it looks to be quite juicy from my brief scanning. <br />Yes, Ram had a Burmese mother and Indian (Rajput) father. I'm reminded of one of La Meri's journal comments about Ram from her Far East tour: "He looks like a Chinese; they can’t tell if he is a man or woman!" ha! ;DMinaiMinaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02868497630163066412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6812053459854550777.post-20571435226763548292013-01-06T17:50:22.870-07:002013-01-06T17:50:22.870-07:00There is a sort of biography on the net which has ...There is a sort of biography on the net which has some material about Ram Gopal<br />http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/sparkes/ramgopal.htm<br />One can go to the contents and look for the section on Ram Gopal. I might have sent the link before. I vaguely remember that he appears in some other sections as well. I do not know why but I seem to associate him with Burma. Is he partly Burmese?gaddeswaruphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16509075029154476375noreply@blogger.com