Blog Hiatus, a Rare Simkie Photo, and Distinguishing Kuchipudi

Hello dear readers and friends!  Well...it has been some time since I have posted or updated this blog.  My how time flies!  Long overdue is a post letting folks know that this blog is on an indefinite hiatus.

My posts on this blog have always been fueled and energized by elation, joy, and excitement in the subject matter--purely felt and honestly channeled into writings in a medium that allowed me to share whatever bliss I was experiencing with likeminded people around the globe.   And I have never posted unless I felt that enthusiasm. For various reasons, some known and others unknown to me, my engagement and enthusiasm have waned, and in that mindset I simply can't post in the same way as I have in the past, at least in good conscience.

The blog is on an indefinite hiatus, and who knows what the future will bring.  I don't want to make any promises that I can't keep, a defect of which I have been guilty of in the past, though I've always had the best, though misguided, intentions!  Should the passion of my past return, I will certainly resume the little mini-research projects I call posts. :D

This blog really blossomed in late 2010, continued the exuberance through 2016, and had a last hurrah in 2017.  I am extremely proud of the work that I did, archived here, hopefully forever, for anyone to see, cherish, and enjoy.  I have had the great fortune of having certain posts graced with comments by famous dancers, academics, and family members of post subjects.  I have met, virtually and in real life, amazing people who have enriched my knowledge, shared my passions, and became my friends. I have disappointed a few, and perhaps treaded not very lightly into contentious and problematic topics and subjects in the history of dance, class, and politics in India. But, I hope that my genuine interest and sympathy for the "underdog" and marginalized has come through.

I realize that as time passes that more broken links, outdated videos, and web maintenance tasks left undone will cause the blog to become harder to use, and as I'm able I will try to keep things up to date.  The fonts aren't always easy to read, and the formatting is goofed up in places. But, please have patience in the meantime. And feel free to drop me a line with any requests to fix things!

So in the low pressure environment of this hiatus post, where I don't have to spend weeks gathering information, making connections, and extensively citing my sources, I thought it would be fun to browse through my draft posts that have never been published and pull out a couple bits of material to finally give it the light of day.

A Rare Photo of Simkie

Simkie, that elusive and mysterious French dance partner of Uday Shanker, most prolifically in the late 1920s and 1930s. I tried for some time to try to figure out a timeline of her later years and what happened to her.

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4 comments Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Simkie

New 1950s Footage at Net-Film: Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai, E.V. Saroja, Chitrasena, Vajira, and Padma Subrahmanyam!

Today I thought, "I wonder if Net-Film has digitized any new videos featuring South Asian dance since I last visited," and they most certainly HAVE—including nattuvangam/training footage of Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai, Bharatanatyam by E.V. Saroja, and Kandyan creative dance by Chitrasena and Vajira!

I had discovered the online Russian digital film/newsreel archive Net-Film back in 2013 when I posted about discovering rare video of the dancers Tara Chaudhri, Guru Gopinath, and Indrani Rahman at the site. Net-Film seems to have since expanded its collection beyond just Russia's Central Studio of Documentary Films, the "oldest and largest film studio in the former Soviet Union," to also include many other studios equaling storage of "about 50,000 films" that are being regularly digitized. Since Net-Film is aimed at providing paid licensing for its content, all the video clips are small, full-length "previews" which have the running timestamp prominently and annoyingly displayed at the bottom to aid requests for exact footage segments. Net-Film also seems to have updated the backend technology and usability of the site and it is no longer glitchy.

The Morning in India (1956, Russian)

This documentary film "about the history of India, struggle for independence, and present of the country" has the rare finds in reels 6 and 7 which focus on Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

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5 comments Bharatanatyam, Chitrasena Dance Company, EV Saroja, Kandyan, Padma Subrahmanyam, Rabindra Nritya, Rare Real-Life Footage, Sinhala, Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai

Muthukumara Pillai On Screen in Kannika (1947), and Other Nattuvanars in Indian Cinema

Thanks to two YouTubers who have uploaded songs from the 1947 Tamil film Kannika in the past few months, Bharatanatyam dance history aficionados can now witness on screen the nattuvanar Kattumannar Koil Muthukumara Pillai (1874-1960, also known as Muthukumaran or Muthukumarappa, of the village Kattumannarkoil aka Mannargudi or Kattumannargudi) at the age of 73 playing the role of a nattuvanar in the song "Natanam Adinar":

Muthukumara Pillai can be seen at 1:14, 1:58, closeup at 2:55, and 3:51 onward
(the lower quality version includes 2 more seconds where he begins to speak, but it's cut off!!)

How do I know it's him? I had read a while back in the September 1993 Sruti magazine feature on Muthukumara Pillai (for brevity, MKP) that when he was in Coimbatore from 1944-1947 teaching exercises and dances to young boys at a drama company, he "came in contact with Pakshiraja Studios and trained the proprietor Sriramulu Naidu's wife Saroja for her lead role in the film 'Kannika' [and] Muthukumara Pillai himself too made a brief appearance in the film." When I watched the recently-uploaded songs and compared the nattuvanar's appearance with known photos of Muthukumara Pillai, it was clearly him! Compare these stills from Kannika with a photo of MKP that I featured in my post on Muthuswami Pillai and that must have been taken in the late 1930s which were the years the young man on the right, Muthuswami Pillai, trained with MKP.

Left: Kannika  Right: Muthukumara Pillai [credit: Mohan Khokar]

This Kannika footage is incredible because Muthukumara Pillai belonged to the oldest generation of nattuvanars whose hereditary artistic practice was discovered in the twentieth century transformation of what we today call Bharatanatyam. What's more, he along with his contemporary Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai (also known as Pandanallur Meenakshisundaram Pillai, from Pandanallur village, for brevity MSP) are often remembered today as the two top-ranking gurus and nattuvanars of their generation who trained most of the first non-hereditary Bharatanatyam dancers who spread and popularized the art form far and wide. The two of them each trained such legends as Ram Gopal, Rukmini Devi Arundale, Mrinalini Sarabhai, and Kamala Lakshman.

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1 comment Bharatanatyam, Hemamalini Arni, Kamala, KN Dandayudhapani Pillai, M.S. Sarojini, Muthukumara Pillai, Radha Burnier, Rare Find, Shobana, US Krishna Rao, Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai, VP Dhananjayan

Found: Rangam (Malayalam, 1985) and Shobana/Mohanlal's Bharatanatyam and Kathakali Dances!

Rangam, one of the holdouts from my "holy grail" wish list, has finally been uploaded to YouTube! (Update: New source relinked in 2019). Thanks to cram for informing me of this lucky discovery! As I had hoped, classical dance (Kathakali and Bharatanatyam) serves as the backdrop to Rangam's plot, and no more than 15 minutes go by before dance is seen again either in the background or as a centerpiece. Most exciting of all, there are lots of my beloved dance practice sequences scattered throughout the film!

Rangam is part of the rash of classical arts films that swept South India in the late 70s to 90s starting largely with the success of Sankarabharanam (Telugu, 1979). Rangam seems to be one of the earliest Malayalam films to follow the trend, and it was followed by other similar classical dance/arts films in Malayalam like Swathi Thirunal (1987), Kamaladalam (1992), Swathi Kiranam (1992), Rajasilpi (1992), Devasuram (1993), Manichitrathazhu (1993), Parinayam (1994), and Kaliyattam (1997).

Now on to the dances! I made a comment on the video at YouTube that lists all the dances in the film by category, so if you go there you can click on any timestamp of interest and it will whisk you away to that timestamp on the player. Here are my favorite dances from the film...

Bharatanatyam/Mohiniattam Dances

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7 comments Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Mohanlal, Practice Dance, Shobana, Wishlist

Film Classical Dances of Manju Warrier (She's Back!)

Manju Warrier (official website)

Manju Warrier is back and dancing in films again with a fantastic Kuchipudi-based dance in the Malayalam film Ennum Eppozhum released in March! I am beyond delighted. Some time ago I had remarked that Manju Warrier and Lakshmi Gopalaswamy were the only two impressive female classical dancers in recent Indian cinema. But Manju's problem was that she only danced in a few Malayalam films in the short years she was in the film industry and then abruptly left in 2000 when she married the actor Dileep. Difficulty awaited anyone who attempted to track down her film dances online which made Manju a neglected subject on this blog.

When Ragothaman of the Bharathanatyam and the Worldwide Web blog notified me of his discovery of Manju's performance in Ennum Eppozhum, I thought it would be the perfect time to dust off my long-coming post and take advantage of the increase in Malayalam films available online.

Manju's film classical dances are always a large notch above the rest because her training clearly shows through no matter how "filmi" and hybridized the choreography, presentation, or editing style. Her body geometry and precise movements are a pleasure to watch. Comparing her to the mature Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Manju's only problem is that in her early film dances as a teenager she showed a lack of polish particularly in her abhinaya which consisted almost entirely of a plastered and unwavering smile and also in some of her lines which occasionally weren't quite perfect.

Trained in her youth in the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam (studying at the same institution as fellow film dancer Vineeth) as well as in Kuchipudi and Mohiniattam, Manju studied Kuchipudi more seriously in recent years under Geetha Padmakumar (Vempati Chinna Satyam's style) and performed her debut arangetram in 2012 after not having danced in public for 14 years. She's back!

Manju's Classical Film Dances

Ennum Eppozhum (2015, Malayalam) - "Dhithiki Dhithiki Thai" - After featuring Manju in a dance competition in his 1996 film Thooval Kottaram, director Sathyan Anthikad brings her back for her film dance comeback—a solo Kuchipudi stage number in his film Ennum Eppozhum. While it leans much more classical than most Indian cinema dances, it still has that filmi touch with the copious editing cuts, out-of-place isolated hand gesture closeups, and bits of prettified quick-choreography. But the number makes up for its shortcomings with lovely lighting/backlighting and Manju's seemingly clean and self-assured lines in some of the adagulu inspirations. Compared to her earlier films, Manju seems to be an entirely different dancer here. She actually has more than one facial expression, and her movements are much more relaxed and graceful. Some media articles and reviews misidentify the dance form as Bharatanatyam, but it's definitely Kuchipudi notably in the lively springiness, occasional mouthing of the words, and the classic Kuchipudi arm movements at :27 and :41 among others.

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3 comments Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Manju Warrier

Mystery Indian Dancers in Seven Wonders of the World (1956, US)

When fellow Indian dance sleuth Ragothaman translated sections of Shankar Venkatraman's Tamil book Thiraiulagil Isai Kalaignargal (Musicians in Cinema), I was surprised to read a number of little-known references to film and film dance appearances of Indian dancers and musicians. I previously blogged about one—Kuchipudi dancer Sobha Naidu dancing in Abhimanavanthulu (1973, Telugu)—but the few others mentions seemed to have no available footage today, like Bangalore Nagarathnammal acting in Krishna Leela (1947, Kannada) and K. Bhanumathi acting (and possibly more?) in Jalaja/Natya Magimai (1938, Tamil).

Venkatraman's book also described multiple films that the now-veteran dancer Padma Subrahmanyam had danced in: the Kannada movie Sri Rathna (likely the 1955 Kannada/Tamil film), the Tamil Nadu documentary Alaiyangalum Thiruvizhakkalum (Temples and their Festivals) in which "she danced for the song 'Kalaiyadha Kalai Engal Kalaiye' in front of the temple deities," and the American movie Seven Wonders of the World in which she "danced a 'snake dance'."

I felt excited by the last discovery! Surely Seven Wonders of the World, a 1956 American film, would be relatively easy to find, and it sounded like Padma might have done a solo dance! But a bit of research led to the discovery that the film was made using Cinerama technology, a widescreen format somewhat like today's IMAX that died out in the 1970s. Cinerama films were "impossible to see at all, in any form, for nearly half a century" because they were never broadcast on TV or released for home viewing (DVDTalk).

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5 comments Bharatanatyam, Padma Subrahmanyam, Rare Find, Rare Real-Life Footage, Western Films

Remembering the Film Bharatanatyam of the Late Adyar K. Lakshman

When I learned the sad news yesterday that the Bharatanatyam Guru Adyar K. Lakshman has passed away, my mind immediately went to his excellent choreography in Indian cinema. Since it still seems that not enough people are aware of it, I thought I would show his two film choreographies again here and honor his work which has been preserved in film for us to cherish all these years later.

I had first learned of Guru Lakshman's choreographies in cinema when I read the Sruti magazine profile on him in Issue 320 (excerpt here) that noted he "directed and choreographed dance sequences from three art films - Subba Sastri, Hamsageethe and Ananda Tandavam."  While I have not been able to locate Ananda Tandavam, I was thrilled to learn this week that its dance starred Savithra Sastry in the lead and the film was supposedly in Tamil and released in 1987! If anyone has seen this dance or knows where to find a copy, please let me know!

Guru Lakshman's choreographies in Subba Sastri and Hamsageethe are, I would argue, among the absolute best (perhaps the best!) serious Bharatanatyam captured in Indian cinema. The treatment of the dances is very different from most other film classical dances with the minimal editing, equal focus given to expressive and pure dance, crisp and authentic lines and movements, and the extended length--all signs of intentional respect and care for the dance segments by the director and editor, and I'm sure Guru Lakshman was the core reason the dances turned out so well.

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15 comments Adyar Lakshman, Bharatanatyam, Jayalakshmi Eswar

Classical Dances in Recent Indian Films - Including Sattriya and Kootiyattam!

While I've been mostly looking back in history as I've blogged about Indian film dances for the past few years, a number of films have released in recent years with songs or scenes featuring classical dance forms. Having collected enough for a robust post and also making some great discoveries this weekend, I'm excited to take a break from research and share what the classical movie dance world has produced recently. I'm sure I've missed some—do let me know of any others!

Vara: A Blessing (2013, Coproduction) - Screened at various film festivals since it's debut but apparently not commercially released in theaters or on DVD, Vara: A Blessing has been described as "a visually stunning exploration of the cross between spiritual devotion and bodily temptation that incorporates hypnotic use of tradition Indian dance and music" and as a work "Accented by mesmerizing bursts of classical Indian dance, haunting vocals, and vivid Hindu fantasyscapes..." With choreography by the accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer Geeta Chandran, music by Nitin Sawhney, and sumptuous visuals and effects by the crew, the dances as seen in the few clips available online make the film an absolute must watch. It's not an Indian film since it's directed by the Bhutanese lama filmmaker Khyentse Norbu with help from various countried folk, but it is set in India and was made with many Indian actors, so it is perhaps a Bhutanese/Indian/international coproduction.

This is the clip that took my breath away and has me aching to watch the film. In it, the main character Lila (Odissi dancer Shahana Goswami) dances Bharatanatyam under the nattuvangam of her mother Vinata (Geeta Chandran), the village's last devadasi. Based on Variety's review of the film which describes how the tribal leader tries to "pimp out Lila" while finding a match for a woman's son, the man staring at her as she dances is likely either the son or the tribal leader. Like him, I can't keep my eyes away from Shahana's face which registers constant emotion and danger that is enhanced by the lighting design and shadows. The entire clip has an ominous, creepy tension. Thanks to Ragothaman for pointing out this clip from Chandran's Facebook page.

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5 comments Aditi Rao Hydari, Assamese, Bharatanatyam, Documentary, Geeta Chandran, Humor, Kamal Hassan, Kathak, Kathakali, Kootiyattam, Kuchipudi, Male Dance, Margi Sathi, Mohiniattam, Odissi, Practice Dance, Sattriya

Bharatanatyam in Sri Lankan Sinhalese Films and in Sri Lanka

While on a zealous search to see what kinds of dance could be found in the cinema of Sri Lanka, India's island neighbor to the south, I was completely perplexed when I stumbled onto this Bharatanatyam-based dance in the 1965 Sinhala film Hathara Maha Nidhanaya:

Starts :53

My cursory understanding of the history of the ethnic Sinhala-Tamil conflict and civil war in Sri Lanka made the dance unfathomable to me! The film is in Sinhala, the language of the Sinhalese Buddhist majority of Sri Lanka, and the staging of the dance is clearly referencing national pride given the image of the Sri Lankan island and national flags (different from today's style) placed prominently in the background and acknowledged by the dancer (and very reminiscent of many Indian film dances in front of the image of India, such as Vyjayanthimala in Penn). The audience of young, mixed-gender school children indicates a respectable, common setting, and the dancer's clothing is very Sinhalese in style (according to a Sinhalese acquaintance).

Despite all of this, the dancer is performing choreography inspired by Bharatanatyam, the dance associated with the minority Tamils, along with what appears to be some Kuchipudi influence such as the backwards anchitam movement of the feet on the heels! And to add to the confusion, the jewelry she wears with her Sinhalese dress is the traditional Hindu temple jewelry of a Bharatanatyam dancer (edit: I've since learned that the headdress is not exclusive to Tamil culture in Sri Lanka). I would have expected to see Bharatanatyam dance in the less-developed Tamil-language cinema of Sri Lanka, but I certainly would have never imagined seeing it in a Sinhala film and especially not in a scene depicting national pride which by that time was apparently well-equated with the majority Sinhalese Buddhist culture and Kandyan dance. Browsing through the rest of the film, the dancer only seemed to appear in this song and there was no indication she had any context in the film that would explain her dance and its stylistic choices.

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8 comments Bharatanatyam, Kandyan, Padmini Dahanayake Ariyadasa, Research, Sinhala, Sri Lanka

Found: Vyjayanthimala's Other Bharatanatyam Dance in Chittor Rani Padmini (1963, Tamil)!

In my first post on V.S. Muthuswami Pillai, the nattuvanar who among many things choreographed most of Vyjayanthimala's best Bharatanatyam in Indian cinema, I had discussed a beautiful Bharatanatyam dance of Vyjayanthimala's in the 1963 Tamil film Chittor Rani Padmini but lamented that I couldn't locate the second dance at the end of the movie she was said to have performed for the king.

Well! The dance has now been located, at the rich treasure house of Kandasamy Sekkarakudi Subbiah Pillai's YouTube channel, and it is fantastic! Whereas "Devi Vithayar Bhavani" depicts the dance of a devadasi inside a temple, "Paarthuk Kondirunthaaley Pothum" depicts the dance of a rajadasi at the king's court. Muthuswami Pillai choreographed the numbers differently; the former dance is restricted to a small physical space and the choreography is performed very precisely, but the latter court dance is snazzed up with expansive flourishes and speedy embellishments fit for the court. And what elevates it from so many other mundane and sloppy Bharatanatyam-inspired court dances in cinema is Vyjayanthimala's sheer talent and training.

The dance starts at 2:16 with a Bharatanatyam salutation (quite similar to that in New Delhi) and raises ones hopes of seeing classical choreography come to life on screen, but the next three minutes are a mix of abhinaya and "filmi classical" movements that reminds me so much of the way that Padmini danced in cinema, though Vyjayanthimala has a more methodical grace. At 5:10, some refreshingly-skilled tabla playing kicks off a four-and-a-half-minute, fast-paced, pure-dance segment in which Vyjayanthimala energetically mimics through dance the raaga-scaling vocal antics of Sivaji Ganesan's character in a "call and response" fashion. The speed she is performing at is too fast for a lot of the adavu-fusions, but despite that she manages to lock her limbs into place and create beautiful visual geometry. Look at her go! Only Kamala and Vyjayanthimala are capable of dancing Bharatanatyam in films with such speed while maintaining relative poise and form.

Starts 2:16

Wow! Of her film choreography that stays quite close to Bharatanatyam, this is her most energetic and exciting dance number! The knee spins at 8:20 are an interesting inclusion. I found the ending quite disappointing because the lazy footwork and editing didn't match the increasing excitement of the vocals and pace. Wouldn't some of this song's choreography have been spectacular in the epic danceoff in Vanjikottai Vaaliban!

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6 comments Bharatanatyam, KN Dandayudhapani Pillai, Muthuswami Pillai, Vyjayanthimala

Film Classical Dances of Shobana

Shobana, the well-known Bharatanatyam dancer and film actress/dancer, was my first film dance love alongside the equally luminous Bhanupriya. Until now I have posted very little about her, the subject of my blog avatar image, because other than her excellent dances in Manichitrathazhu and Dance Like a Man I had not been able to find any other proper film classical dances in her filmography. There were lots of pseudo-classical dances and numbers that tried to evoke classical imagery like those in Rudraveena, Dhwani, and April 18. It seemed hard to believe given how talented of a dancer she was, and I knew there had to be some hardcore practice and stage numbers hiding out there somewhere.

I was so excited when Richard at his Dances on the Footpath blog found Shobana's Bharatanatyam numbers in Mahamayee, and thanks to the huge uptick recently in the number of Malayalam films and songs posted online I was able to find this week two Malayalam films with classical dances by Shobana that I have never seen before (and I venture to guess neither have most of my readers!). Huge thanks are due to Youtuber Iqnatusm who has uploaded a lot of rare dances from Malayalam cinema [Update: Channel no longer available].

SHO-bana (not "Sho-BANa" as my Malayalee friend corrects me with exasperation) Chandrakumar was born in 1970 (not 1966 as some articles mistakenly claim) in Kerala to the brother of the famous "Travancore Sisters" Lalitha, Padmini, and Ragini. Her first film appearance was at age 9 in Mangalanayiki (Tamil, 1980) but she describes in an interview [no longer available at ibnlive] her true debut film as a lead as April 18 (Malayalam, 1984). But Bhakta Dhruva Markandeya (Telugu, 1982), a children's mythological film starring an all child/teen cast, could be considered her first major role. I was delighted to find the film available on YouTube with English subtitles. Here is a 12-year-old Shobana as Queen Suneethi dancing a bit in a song with just-christened second wife Suruchi (at 13:48 is a brief Bharatanatyam-inspired move). The whole children/young teens acting such mature roles thing is a bit...creepy!

Starts 12:14

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12 comments Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Male Dance, Mohiniattam, Shobana

Muthuswami Pillai's Star Students, Sayee and Subbulakshmi, and the "Twin Dance" Phenomenon (Part Two)

The Sayee and Subbulakshmi sisters were the best South Indian "twin dance" duo of Indian cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, and I don't think anyone has matched them since!  Their speed, precision, flexibility, springing leg movements, and most of all their ability to dance synchronized with each other was unparalleled. Unfortunately, they seem hardly remembered today outside of some film/classical dance enthusiasts—and a surprise inclusion in a recent conference on dance and music in early South Indian cinema! A mention of the sisters in a 2011 Indian newspaper article about classical dance in Indian cinema wrongly claimed that they danced only in the Hindi films Azad and Chori Chori "before disappearing." But bloggers and dance enthusiasts such as myself, Richard, Tom, and Lakshmi Subramanian, who have delighted in, discussed, and preserved the sisters' film dance sequences for years now, know better! Sayee-Subbulakshmi specialized in Bharatanatyam and had the heaviest presence in Tamil cinema (at least 13 films), but they also performed Kathak and folk styles and danced in other regional-language and Hindi films. And they were simply spectacular!

Sayee

Back in 2010, Richard's post about Sayee-Subbulakshmi at his lovely Dances on the Footpath blog was graced by comments from Sayee's nephew and son informing readers with details about films the duo had danced in, family relations, that they learned Bharatanatyam from "Shri Muthuswami Pillai," and the sad news that Sayee had passed away in 2010. At the time I had no idea who "Muthuswami Pillai" was and promptly forgot the detail!

Subbulakshmi

But when I found a lengthy feature about V.S. Muthuswami Pillai in Sruti magazine, I was astounded to make the connection back to the comments from Sayee's relatives and even more astounded to learn how involved Muthuswami was. While Muthuswami began choreographing for films around 1938, it wasn't until a few years later that a fateful meeting with P.A. Periyanayaki introduced him to the young girls that would eventually become his star students who would perform "far and wide" and be "among the busiest artists of their time"--Sayee and Subbulakshmi (aka Sayee-Subbulakshmi, Sai-Subbalaxmi, etc.)! While I introduced Muthuswami Pillai and his other film choreographies in Part One and the Piya Milan addendum, here in Part Two I want to celebrate the talents of Sayee-Subbulakshmi by showcasing all of their known film dances, recognize Muthuswami Pillai's training and chiseling of their talent, and analyze his dance style.

Sayee and Subbulakshmi's
Training with Muthuswami Pillai

These priceless photos and excerpts are quoted from musician-dance scholar Sujatha

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8 comments Bharatanatyam, Muthuswami Pillai, Sai-Subbulakshmi, Twin Dance

Found: Vyjayanthimala's Devadasi Dance in Piya Milan (Choreographed by V.S. Muthuswami Pillai)

Huge thanks are due to Mr. Naidu for uploading Vyjayanthimala's dance in the 1958 Hindi film Piya Milan (a dub of the 1956 Tamil film Marma Veeran) which was choreographed by the hereditary nattuvanar V.S. Muthuswami Pillai.  I had speculated in my recent post (part one) on Muthuswami's film choreographies that this dance would be as fabulous as his direction of Vyjayanthimala in Chittoor Rani Padmini—and how true that turned out to be!  But what stunned me most about the dance is that it appears to be a preserved example of the "Sadir" devadasi dance of yore known today as Bharatanatyam. It wasn't only the court setting and the costume but also the actual choreography and body language that signified this identification and caught my attention.

As I first watched the dance I could tell that something was different, and by the end I was struck by my reaction and the way I connected with the dance.  I couldn't quite articulate why I thought it was an example of devadasi choreography or what it was that made the viewing experience so different from watching Vyjayanthimala's Bharathanatyam in Chittoor Rani Padmini.  The dance had a certain je ne sais quoi that was unlike anything I'd seen before.  When I first covered the topic of Devadasi-Like Dances in Classic South Indian Films, I focused more on the trappings of the dance like the time period, physical setting, camera work, and patron-focus.  But I didn't have the knowledge to comment much on the actual movements and choreography.  Blogger RameshRam had helped me form a very general view of what made devadasi dance different from its reworked Bharathanatyam form—essentially a wider berth given to internalized skill/spontaneity/grace versus strict classicism/statuesqueness/set parameters.  But when I saw Vyjayanthimala's dance in Piya Milan, I knew that the subject was begging for further analysis and nuance.  None of the devadasi film dances I'd seen so far had charmed me in such an intense way! What was it that made two dance choreographies designed by the same talented nattuvanar feel so different?

In conversation with blogger RameshRam, I learned that he not only felt the same charm in viewing the dance but also articulated the differences instantly and provided a fascinating analysis.  Ramesh doesn't formally write much about dance, but he has a wealth of knowledge about Bharathanatyam and devadasi dance.  I invited Ramesh to share his views which I have edited slightly and provided screencaps for. Read on below to watch the two dances and read Ramesh's excellent piece and thought-provoking conclusion.

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15 comments Bharatanatyam, Devadasis, Muthuswami Pillai, Vyjayanthimala

Film Choreographies of Nattuvanar V.S. Muthuswami Pillai: Part One

V.S. Muthuswami Pillai (source: Sruti)

While reading about the hereditary nattuvanar of yesteryear V.S. Muthuswami Pillai in Sruti magazine (Issues 319 and 320), I was surprised to learn that he was the sole guru and early film choreographer of the most brilliant dancing duo of Indian cinema, Sayee-Subbulakshmi! He was also responsible for some authentic Bharathanatyam numbers in Indian cinema, not only of Sayee and Subbulakshmi but also Vyjayanthimala and other artists. The author of the Sruti articles, Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, presents a portrait of V.S. Muthuswami's life from his youth in a hereditary dance and music community to his dance direction in Indian cinema and finally his "French period" where he reached his creative peak teaching foreign students from France and creating his own style.  Sujatha also links Sayee and Subbulakshmi to relatives P.A. Periyanayaki and R. Padma!

Thus my much-delayed "Remembering Film Choreographers" series officially begins!  In the series kick-off post, I had revealed my discovery that almost all of the top-notch classical film dances featured on my blog were choreographed by members of the traditional dance community or eminent dancers; in the case of Tamil films, by hereditary Bharathanatyam nattuvanars.  It's a subject that has received precious little attention, popular or scholarly, until recently.

Look beyond the sparkling veneer of these film dances and one finds that they were often the products of economic necessity by the hereditary community whose stigmatized way of life underwent tremendous upheaval during the reform movements surrounding women, temple dedication, and dance in the early twentieth century in India.  Many nattuvanars migrated to urban areas like Madras (now Chennai) where upper-class/caste girls from outside the traditional community desired to learn the dance in newly-formed institutions.  Films provided another avenue of opportunity, and due to the reach of the medium into the popular consciousness, the film dances of these nattuvanars were partly responsible for creating awareness of Bharatanatyam among the masses and surely contributed to the dance "revival's" success and acceptance. To the delight of historians and archivists, these film dances also serve as a visual record of the early dance form, the nattuvanar's style, and in some cases glimpses of the nattuvanar himself.  And to the delight of this blog, these film dances are damn good!

Because there is so much information to cover, I've split up this post topic into three parts.  In this first part here, I will focus on V.S. Muthuswami Pillai's life (hereafter just "Muthuswami Pillai") and choreography in films before and outside of Sayee and Subbulakshmi.  In the second post, Sayee-Subbulakshmi's training with Muthuswami Pillai and their film choreographies, both by Muthuswami Pillai and other dance directors, will get center stage.  And in the third part, the work of P.A. Periyanayaki and R. Padma in films and their exciting relation to Sayee-Subbulakshmi will be excavated.  I suppose this is the official first post of my much-delayed "Remembering Film Choreographers" series!

What is a Nattuvanar?

V.S. Muthuswami Pillai demonstrating an
adavu (source:Sruti, credit: Samudri Archives)

My favorite online articles for understanding the nattuvanar's role in Bharathanatyam dance, then and now, are "The Rise and Fall of the Nattuvanar" by A. Seshan and "Where are the Master Gurus?" by Gowri Ramnarayan [no longer locatable at The Hindu, but appears archived here].  From all of the reading I have done, my understanding is that while the role of a nattuvanar (hereditary dance guru, conductor, and choreographer) in Bharathanatyam has changed significantly over the last century, nattuvanars were traditionally members of a hereditary community of non-Brahmin, professional musicians and dancers (often called Isai Velalar) that made their living through arts of their exclusive domain. At the top of the community's hierarchy were two professional and specialized ensembles performing distinctive art forms known as periya melam and chinna melam.  The periya melam focused on performing stylized instrumental music to accompany temple rituals and other festivities and featured the powerful and rousing nadaswaram/nagaswaram.  The chinna melam focused on devadasi dance performances led by nattuvanars who taught the devadasis of the community and conducted their performances.  The dance of the chinna melam ensemble was also called names like Sadir or Dasiattam, and it was this dance that was reconstructed and named Bharatanatyam in the 1930s as nonhereditary dancers from outside the community began learning and performing the art.

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18 comments Bharatanatyam, Kamala, Muthuswami Pillai, Vyjayanthimala

Found: Kamala, Rhadha, and Vasanthi's Dance in Chenda (1973, Malayalam)

Another holy grail film dance FOUND!  This time it's 39-year-old Kamala AND her younger sisters Rhadha and Vasanthi dancing to Kamala's own choreography in the semiclassical song "Nrithyathi Nrithyathi Brahmapadam" from the 1973 Malayalam film Chenda! It's a 'triple whammy' in showing not only what Kamala and Rhadha danced like in 1973 but also dance footage of sister Vasanthi (whom I've only seen a few token photographs of in Sruti magazine).  Amazing!  The video quality is not very good (and YouTube's stabilization feature makes it a little dizzying), but the rarity of this film and its apparent lack of commercial release makes this a special video indeed! [Update: Relinked to new location in 2019, after previous version disappeared]

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6 comments Bharatanatyam, Kamala, Malayalam, Rhadha, Vasanthi

Anjana Banerjee’s Bharatanatyam in Chhandaneer (Bengali, 1989)

I first learned of Anjana Banerjee whilst browsing YouTube for Bharatanatyam dance videos a while ago.  You might have seen her infamous video titled “Anjana Banerjee – Hilarious Bharatanatyam Dancer” where she gives a performance that is so incredibly bad it's deliciously hilarious!  Take a look at this priceless piece of Doordarshan TV history:

The uploader references a complimentary quote on Narthaki.com about Anjana's dance skills, and when I first saw the video a while back I thought “oh Narthaki must have mixed her up with a dancer of a similar name” because how could a dancer like that possibly be taken seriously in any way?  And how did she get on TV in the first place?

Luckily for us, that is not the only recent dancing video of Anjana online.  There seems to be a bunch of people who have taken it upon themselves to upload short preview videos ripped-off from DancingIndia.net (which itself is a rip-off site that rips-off other people's videos and DVDs and resells them as proprietary downloads).  The videos are recognized not only by the "DancingIndia.net" watermark but also by their randomly-numbered titles with misspelled words and, most humorously, inserts of the uploader's opinions in the titles.  So one may find titles with things like ru1bbish1 (rubbish), crappp, crappiest grp, idiotonscats (idiot on skates!), longjaaw (long jaw?), fatkid, or simply...supercow. :D

Among these lovely collections can be found a few more recent Anjana Banerjee performances.  In the two below, she gets the distinction of having "faat horrror" in the title. :) I love the second video, where the introduction speaks glowingly of her dance as an "exposition of rhythm and melody." There are a handful more that are slightly-less-atrocious, like this and especially this in which she looks a bit younger and has more energy.

 Anjana's Dances in Chandaneer

To my amazement, a visitor emailed me this week regarding a 1989 Bengali film called Chhandaneer (The Nest of Rhythm, directed by Utpalendu Chakrabarty), and after some research and finding the movie in full online (legally through Angel, who never cease to be awesome), I quickly discovered that the film was about a Bharatanatyam dancer!  Bengali films in my experience simply do not feature as many dances as Hindi or South Indian cinema does, and when they do it tends to be either mujras or Tagore dance (I have a post in the works about this...among so many others!) with a few exceptions like the Odissi dances in Yugant or the brief Bharatanatyam practice scene in Unishe April.  And that is why finding the film Chhandaneer, which revolves completely around an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer who marries a blind musician in rigid pursuit of high art, is incredible!  (Thank you Elena!)

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11 comments Anjana Banerjee, Bharatanatyam, Humor, Practice Dance, Tagore

A Better Quality Bala AND Sanchari, Bamboo Flute, and Kuchipudi Revisited Posted Full Length!

What a coincidence!  I just discovered that not even a month after I had posted Bala (1976) on YouTube a much better-quality version was posted by the imagineindia channel which appears to be linked with the "Imagine India International Film Festival Madrid" that took place in May.  The quality of their version is excellent with no pixelation or compression, sound perfectly synched, and a rose-tinted sepia appearance.  If only I would have waited a few weeks it would have already been up online, amazing!  Oh 2012, my love for you has no bounds!

Update: Video removed/channel no longer available

Imagineindia's channel also has what I understand is another rare film of Satyajit Ray, Pikoo's Diary.  Other non-related channels have uploaded Sukumar Ray and The Inner Eye, both also quite rare apparently.

While that is quite awesome, I am even more excited to see that Sanchari, Bamboo Flute, and Kuchipudi Revisited are now all posted full length! I was so excited about the discovery of the full-length Bhavantarana on Monday that I didn't check to see if any other Indian Diplomacy hosted documentaries I blogged about had been posted in full!

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3 comments Alarmel Valli, Balasaraswati, Bharatanatyam, Documentary, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Kuchipudi, Leela Samson, Odissi, Swapna Sundari

Found: The Classical Dance in Kann Sivandhal Mann Sivakkum (Tamil, 1983)

Dhananjayan as Nandanar (Source)

Remember the V.P. Dhananjayan dance from Kann Sivandhal Mann Sivakkum that was part of my "holy grail" list of Obscure Indian Films About Dance post?  I have found it!

While browsing through the Indian National Film Award program archives (another awesome discovery and subject of an upcoming post!), I noticed Kann Sivandhaal Mann Sivakkum had won a National Award for the "Best First Film of a Director."  On a whim, I decided do some googling and see if anything new from the film was online and low and behold YouTuber rdhinakar uploaded the entire film as well as all individual songs a month back [Update: No longer available, but located another source].

The film (according to the NFA description) basically tells the story of an American NRI woman who comes to India and seeks the help of an artist to help her create a classical dance about Nandanar, the legendary Harijan saint who lived in the 10th century.  Apparently the artist convinces her to create a folk dance instead and the two travel to the heart of Tamilnadu to find a famous exponent of the Theru-Koothu (Tamil street play) tradition.  The film won the National Award for its "original interpretation of a deep-rooted social evil, combining folk art with modern cinematic idiom."

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6 comments Bharatanatyam, Male Dance, VP Dhananjayan

Indian Dances in Western Films about India: Part 1 (The Classical Era)

Still from Kama Sutra (1996)

Throughout the past few years, I've not given much attention to historical films about India made in the West.  When I was reminded of the Odissi-inspired dances in Mira Nair's Kama Sutra a few weeks back, I had a sudden urge to answer the question "how have Indian dances been presented in Western historical films about India?"  A new project was born!

Little did I realize that researching that question leads to the fascinating and complex topic of the depiction of the British empire in India and the British Raj through cinema and television miniseries released back to the early 1900s.  There was practically an entire genre of adventure and action "empire films" in the 1930s made by the UK and the US, and the 1980s saw a resurgence of interest in India as evidenced by the many films and lavish miniseries released about the subject.  Critical to my research have been sites like these which give excellent lists of empire films and films about India: The British Empire in Film (archived here), and The British Empire.

From Kim (1950)

These productions give a fascinating glimpse into how British and other Western cultures constructed a view of their activities in India/South Asia and how that view changed over time.  Especially in older films, the British empire in India is painted as a valiant effort to save a "backwards" people from succumbing to their "intractable problems."  Indians are presented as exotic, simultaneously fascinating yet barbaric, and in need of British and Western intervention.  Often the films are propaganda pieces to garner public support of the occupation and military presence.  I'll discuss a bit more detail in Part 3 of this series.

For some fascinating reading on the subject, I would recommend the following books which you can preview much of on Google Books: Colonial India and the Making of Empire Cinema, and Cinema at the End of Empire: Politics of Transition in Britain and India; these look to be interesting books too but aren't available for preview: Outsider Films on India 1950-1990, and Projecting Empire: Imperialism and Empire Cinema.

From Der Tiger Von Eschnapur (1938)

So amid such orientalist and imperial attitudes, how were Indian dances treated in these films? Did white women in brownface just wave their hands around in some sort of bastardized Persian "bellydance" with unusual costumes?  Were any authentic South Asian movements utilized in the choreography?  Did representations change as the years passed? In attempting to answer these questions, I've split this post into three parts: Part 1 (The Classical Era), Part 2 (Rare Dances), and Part 3 (Orientalism). [Update: Also Part 4 (Coproductions)]

I've selected dances mostly from Western historical films about India due to their serious or propagandist attempt at presenting India's history and showing (or not even bothering to research and show) authentic, classical-based and/or courtly dance forms.  Modern films like The Love Guru or Marigold with lighthearted or modern "Bollywood" dances have not been included nor have documentaries like Louis Malle's Phantom India because the concern here is about authentic Indian dances being presented in constructed, artistic accounts of the past.

Part 1

The most authentic and beautiful dances in Western historical films and miniseries about India seem to be found in productions from the 1980s with the exception of 1951's The River.  The 80s saw a resurgence in interest about India in the UK and the US that was reflected in all the releases about the subject (or perhaps because of the releases?).  Think The Jewel in the Crown (1984), A Passage to India (1984), Peter Brooks' The Mahabharata (1989), Gandhi (1982), and even Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).  What was it that led to such a Western fascination about India at that time?  Whatever it was, I'm glad it happened because productions of this period finally featured some decent Indian dances to show to Western film viewers.

The question remaining is why were these 80s productions leaps and bounds ahead of their predecessors in presenting Indian dance with degrees of authenticity?  I think the answer lies obviously in the motivation of the films production.  A 1930s film was concerned with presenting an exotic India and probably never bothered with researching the authenticity of "base" dance forms.  Understanding what the 1980s films were concerned with is beyond my knowledge as it would require not only watching all of the films and miniseries and assessing their motivations but also understanding how Britain (and the US) were processing their colonial pasts at that time.  But clearly enough time had passed by the 80s that perhaps enough postcolonial assessment and reflection had accumulated to spur film productions that actually sought out more honest depictions of the past including honest, authentic depictions of dance.  What's surprised me the most is that after the 1980s, dance depictions seemed to revert back to less authenticity.  What was it about the 80s!  I'm sure there is lots of academic authorship on this subject; another topic to pursue!

Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy (1986, UK, TV Miniseries) - This Masterpiece Theatre miniseries gets a gold star for having the most authentic classical dance of the series!  I knew it was going to be great when one of the characters actually identifies the dance to the British as Kathak (wow! It's not just some generic "Indian dance" or "Nautch dance").  But I was floored when the dance began and I saw famous Kathak danseuse Saswati Sen!  She's the same dancer who did the lovely Kathak dance in Shatranj Ke Khilari.  To top it all off, the actual dance itself is a beautiful and authentic Kathak number. Despite the horrible acting of Gandhi's character in the series, the dances are just right.

Video no longer available online

The Far Pavilions (1984, UK, TV Miniseries) - Kathak makes another appearance in this HBO miniseries (apparently HBO's first), but this time the dancer spends some time seated and performs a well-rounded mix of abhinaya and pure dance.  Despite the shots of the British officer's clearly-pleased "male gaze," I love the respect given to the dance form in the way the number is put together and the tone of the whole performance.  I would recommend browsing through this series as it's quite visually lavish with lots of scenes of Indian culture, though there is of course many white folk in awkward brownface (the Indian princess really takes the cake!) and a focus on "backwards" practices like sati and the like.

Starts 9:22

Later on in The Far Pavilions is a lavish Indian wedding scene which is followed by a brief Rajasthani folk dance that looks to my eye very similar to Kathak at 2:58 (and some folk dance at 3:40).  The presentation and quality of the first dance is noteworthy; the performer is clearly trained, and I love the appreciative reaction of her audience when she finishes.

Starts 43:45

The River (1951, France) - Given that many films about the British Raj take place in the northwest part of India (such as the Northwest Frontier, Khyber Pass, etc.), it is hard to find dance performances originating from South Indian dance traditions.  That's why the straight-from-Bharatanatyam-adavus performance in Jean Renoir's lushly-colored The River is so special even if the film is set in Bengal.  When I first saw this dance on YouTube long ago I thought it was yet another white girl playing Indian and attempting Indian dance; however, I recently learned that the dancer, Radha Burnier, was Rukmini Arundale's niece and the first graduate of Kalakshetra!  While the dance is quite good, especially for a nonIndian film, Radha's movements are a bit lanky with a lack of sharpness and completion (and the less said about  her facial expressions the better!) which surprised me given her dance background and my high expectations.  But it's always nice to see authentic dancers performing Indian dance in these films instead of some unskilled western person pretending to be Indian, and it's especially awesome to find a South Indian dance (the ONLY one I've seen so far).  And above all, this film is head and shoulders above its contemporaries in depicting Indian dance (and music) as it really was.

Queenie (1987, USA, TV drama) - I watched this two-part miniseries many years ago as a teen and was quite taken in by the half Indian character Queenie played by Mia Sara (whom I can never disassociate from Ferris Bueller's Day Off!).  I just learned recently that Queenie's character was based on the life of Merle Oberon, "Hollywood's First Indian Actress," who is said to have hid her Indian background and from pictures looks eerily similar to Manisha Koirala.  That aside, there is a scene where two Kathak dancers perform at a party but end up being interrupted by a drunk Queenie who thinks she can join in the fun; the dancers appear to be Indian and actually perform authentic movements making for an enjoyable viewing.

The Deceivers (1988, UK) - Despite the distracting presence of Pierce Brosnan, this Merchant Ivory film features a short sequence in which a young boy 'dances' some moves that are sort of inspired by Kathak and folk dance.  The dance is part of a larger, tense scene in which members of a secret society of murderers are exposed.  It's unfortunate the dance had to just be a sideshow to the violent scene and that the boy basically repeats the same movements with too many shots intercut.  I'm very suspicious that the dancer might be the same little boy in Sruthi Layalu and Swarna Kamalam!

Starts 55:42

3 comments Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Radha Burnier, Research, Saswati Sen, Western Films

My Latest Collection of Lesser-Known Film Classical Dances

I'm happy to present my latest collection of classical-oriented dances I've found recently (or have been holding onto for a while) that are either lesser known or have been difficult to track down. Enjoy!

"Vikraama Rajendra" - Bhakta Kuchela (Malayalam, 1961) - Attention!! New Kamala Lakshman material starting at 5:00!  I originally talked about this song on my post about my favorite twin dances and the only version online at the time was quite poor in quality and ended abruptly.  I since got a hold of the original film and also what appears to be a Kannada dub and was amazed that the Kannada version adds about two minutes of extra footage of a third Manipuri dance that's missing from the Malayalam version!  The only downside is that it cuts a little bit of footage off from the beginning, so I included the beginning from the Mallu version and the rest from the Kannada version to create a complete whole. The old uploader had split the original song into two pieces so that is all taken care of as well. I am 100% convinced the taller dancer is Kamala Lakshman, and Richard of the Dances on the Footpath blog suggested the shorter dancer might by Kuchala Kumari.  So enjoy the two minutes of Kamala Lakshman material you've probably never seen before!

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7 comments A White Chick, Anoushka Shankar, Bharatanatyam, Kamala, Kathakali, Malayalam, Mohiniattam, Odissi, Roshan Kumari, Vineeth