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

Film Classical Dances of Roshan Kumari

I’ve found two new Roshan Kumari film dances online! One seems to have not been available for public view until recently thanks to Angel (Basanta Bahara) and the other shows her dancing pure Kathak in a Films Division documentary (Kathak) that I've uploaded.

I’ve blogged before about her exquisite Kathak in Indian cinema, but I’ve never done a dedicated post and thought it was high time.  For a nice overview of Roshan Kumari’s background, I recommend a visit to an informational page about her created by one of her students, Mukta Joshi.  I also recommend visiting Richard's post about her at his Dances on the Footpath blog, where I'm quite sure I first learned about Roshan.

I want to get straight to talking about her exquisite Kathak.  What I love most about her style, and what is featured in most of her film dances, is her explosive nritta (pure, non-interpretive dance).  Most of the Kathak found in Indian films tends toward the courtesan/Mujra style of Kathak with a focus on abhinaya (expressive interpretation), lyrical poetry, and a slower pace to show off the dancer's feminine charms.  In cases where the pace quickens to feature footwork and spins, the dances still aren't up to par and the dancer's lack of lengthy Kathak training usually shows (or in the case of Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, the dancer (Gopi Krishna) is clearly trained but "spices up" the dance for film so much that it strays from classical Kathak).  Film Kathak often features close-up shots of the dancer's footwork, but it's almost always a shadow of the real thing.  There are a few film dances, however, that are gleaming exceptions to the rule in their presentation of rhythmic, technical Kathak, and the star of this style is undoubtedly Roshan Kumari.  She is responsible for the best technical Kathak in Indian cinema, I say! 

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13 comments Bengali, Documentary, Kathak, Roshan Kumari

Rare 1930s Tamil Film and 1950s Padmini Dance Footage from Ellis Dungan’s Collection

Hiding in the most unlikely of places, the West Virginia State Archives in the US, are documentary films and video footage shot/directed by the late Ellis Dungan, an American who made a number of Tamil films in South India from 1935-1950. In the collection are two incredibly-rare videos with footage I assume has not been available publicly until now.  The first video is “Inside India,” a documentary on South Indian village life that has an extended stage dance sequence by "Travancore Sisters" Padmini and Lalitha. The second video is a compilation containing footage Ellis took while directing the Tamil films Sati Leelavati (1936), Seemanthani (1936), Iru Sahodarargal (Two Brothers, 1936), and Ambikapathi (1937), and it reveals rare images of film stars and technicians and gives a visual glimpse into how Tamil films were made in the 1930s.  The thanks for unearthing these videos goes to a wonderfully-knowledgeable online contact, Sreenivas Paruchuri, who sent these links to me.  Thank you! 

Inside India - Featuring a Padmini/Lalitha Dance (at 7:39)!

This documentary at first appears to be just a montage of scenes from village life in South India with a staid, explanatory voiceover. But at 7:39, an audience and stage appear as the voiceover explains, “There are numerous dramatic troupes that travel from village to village in Southern India and evening performances are given in the streets.  Here the people in the village witness one of the most popular musical dramas, Mathura Veeran, the story of Princess Bommi being wooed by Veeran, a commoner.” As the curtain withdraws, the performers are revealed to be Lalitha and then her sister Padmini! The duo doesn't perform much abstract dance and instead focuses on enacting the lyrics of the story for their first act. In their second act, the sisters appear in horse costumes in what looks like a Poikkal Kudirai Aattam “dummy horse” folk dance! Isn't Padmini absolutely luminous here?  The legend the voiceover refers to is that of the folk deity Madurai Veeran, which was the subject of the 1956 Tamil film of the same name which Padmini acted and danced in (and it has a Lalitha/Ragini dance too).  RajVideoVision just recently uploaded a legal copy of the whole film on YouTube!

What remains unknown is when this documentary was filmed. My guess for the dance portion, based on Padmini’s facial shape and appearance, is around 1950-1952 or so given the similarity to her early film appearances from this time. While Dungan is said to have returned to the US soon after his hit film Manthiri Kumari released in 1950, he made frequent trips back to India and made his last film there in 1962, so Inside India conceivably could have been filmed right before he left or when he returned later. I wonder why he didn’t identify the famous sisters by name in the documentary. Surely Dungan would have known who Padmini and Lalitha were given that they danced in Manthiri Kumari and he was familiar with the Tamil cinema world. I also wonder if this is really an “authentic” drama stage performance or if it’s been manufactured for the documentary. Were Padmini and Lalitha in performing drama troupes at this time?

Footage from 1930s Tamil Cinema Sets/Filmings

While the West Virginia Archives calls this video “15 minutes of Dungan’s home movie film of movie-making in India,” it is no simple home movie! It is incredibly rare, silent footage of the movie making process in South India in the 30s and features many shots of actors, technicians, musicians, and producers of the time period as well as the filming and set technology. It also shows Dungan himself and in action! It is very likely that this is the first extant video footage available for some of the lesser-known people in the shots. And to my absolute delight, there are two short dances!

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13 comments Documentary, Lalitha, Padmini, Rare Find

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

Full-Length Bhavantarana is Now Up!

I would like to thank La_Surrealiste for posting in the comments today that the film/documentary Bhavantarana on the late Odissi Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra is now posted full length on YouTube--and it's fresh, only two days old!  The Indian Diplomacy folks who had previously posted the short snippet (see my post here) must have had a change of heart and decided to give all of us eager dance enthusiasts reason to rejoice! The one hour-plus Bhavantarana is up on YouTube!

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4 comments Documentary, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Kumkum Mohanty, Odissi, Sanjukta Panigrahi

A Documentary on Simkie, Uday Shankar's Dance Partner

I recently came across the documentary Simkie Paris-Delhi made in 2008 by Charlotte Arrighi de Casanova and was thrilled by what it contained!  The documentary's subject is Simkie, the French woman who was Uday Shankar's dance partner for some 20 years.  She is the woman often seen in stills dancing next to Uday, and in articles about Uday she generally gets at least a passing mention and at most  the revelation that her real name was Simone Barbier and she transitioned from being a pianist to being Uday's closest dance partner.  But I've never been able to find more about her personal life such as who she was, how she as a European became interested in Indian dance, how people reacted to her, what she herself thought of Uday's dance style, authenticity issues, etc.  This documentary, made by Simkie's niece, helps shed a bit more light on the elusive figure.  Here it is:

Update: Unfortunately the full length video has been
made private and only a brief trailer is viewable

The documentary is comprised almost entirely of interviews of Simkie's relatives and former dance associates interspersed with rare photos and shots of modern Indian street life and dance practice.  While the first half is mostly in French with no subtitles, most of the interviewees in the second half speak English.  The cinematography is lovely, the pace reflective and languid, and the mood a bit sad, almost forlorn.

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16 comments Documentary, Simkie, Uday Shankar, Zohra Segal

Found: Bala (1976, Satyajit Ray) and an Extant Recordings List

Only two documentaries are said to have been made on the legendary devadasi/Bharatanatyam dancer T. Balasaraswati (Sruti magazine).  The first was a 1962 recording titled Balasaraswati produced by Wesleyan University in the US, and the second was a 1976 documentary titled Bala directed by Satyajit Ray.

The Wesleyan recording appears to be available for purchase [Update: no longer locatable now] and short clips from it are on YouTube, but the Satyajit Ray documentary is as elusive as can be!  I don't think it's ever been commercially released, and only a few film studies programs and government archives seem to have copies which are unfortunately rarely screened.  As luck would have it, this week I found a copy of the rare documentary online.  Blocky artifacts due to apparent heavy compression made for a less-than-ideal viewing experience, so I cleaned up the video to make it as presentable as possible given the source.  I rarely post entire films, but I'm presenting this one for not only the educational value of discussing it here but also because it is an important archival recording of a critical figure in the history of India's classical dance traditions.  Ray himself apparently saw the film's "main value as archival" and he "put on film a rare performer for future generations to marvel at" (Robinson).

Here is the wonderful documentary; time markers of interest (if you watch the video on YouTube you can click on the times in the description and go straight to that point of the video): 2:07 - Bala demonstrating hand gestures 3:57 - Bala singing and performing abhinaya 7:00 - Bala speaking in English 8:29 - An elderly Uday Shankar speaking about Bala 9:58 - Bala's Krishna Ne Begane Baro dance by the ocean 18:58 - Bala's varnam dance with her musical ensemble.  (Note - A better version of Bala is now available on YouTube; please see my June 8 post.  I have not yet removed my version below in case others have linked to/embedded it). 

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14 comments Balasaraswati, Documentary, Rare Real-Life Footage

Rare Video of Devadasis Gauri Ammal and Balasaraswati

While chatting with an online friend about the history of devadasis and other topics related to this blog, my friend pointed out that the website of the Asia Society had a video containing a rare clip of devadasi Mylapore Gowri Ammal dancing.  The video was Douglas Knight's presentation at the June 2010 Asia Society-hosted launch of his book, Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life.  As I watched, I was completely astonished to discover that not only did it have an almost 3-minute video of Gauri Ammal's abhinaya (!) but also it contained two separate clips (with nearly 13-minutes of collective dance footage) of the legendary devadasi T. Balasaraswati.

Here is the stunning video with the dance segments notated above.  The first two dances have no sound and Mr. Knight reads excerpts from his book in the background. (Here's the original video link if needed.)

 12:02-16:00 - Balasaraswathi dancing on stage
 18:13-20:54 - Mylapore Gowri Ammal
 22:34-34:09 - Balasaraswathi performing an alapana starting at 23:25 and then dancing to Krishna Nee Begane Baro starting at 25:17 (according to Sangeetha's blog).

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4 comments Balasaraswati, Documentary, Gauri Ammal, Rare Real-Life Footage

Kumari Kamala Dancing in the Documentary "Bharata Natyam" (1954)

(Update: In 2019, I discovered a vastly better quality version of this documentary, see this post).

I'm so excited about this discovery that I feel like shouting from the rooftops that I have found footage of non-film Bharatanatyam by Kamala in the 1954 Indian Films Division 12-minute documentary Bharata Natyam directed by Jagat Murari!  She is the featured dancer that demonstrates the characteristics of Bharatanatyam (accompanied by a boring English voiceover) such as styles of gaits, hand gestures, head and neck movements, footwork, and then demonstrations of short segments of the various pieces of a Bharatnatyam concert (Alarippu, Jatiswaram, Shabdam, Varnam, Padam, Tillana).  There is a slight jerkiness at times that I address at the end of this post.  Here it is, the video featuring the illustrious Kamala also known as Baby Kamala/Kumari Kamala/Kamala Lakshman/Kamala Lakshminarayanan/etc!

Isn't it wonderful?  What a treat to get to see Kamala dance and perform in some ways that we would never get to see in her film dances; not only isolated movements of specific body parts but also how she performs specific common Bharatanatyam pieces such as the Alarippu without all the editing and shifting angles of film dances.  Incredible!

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7 comments Documentary, Kamala, Rare Real-Life Footage

Upcoming Documentary: Odissi - From the Temples to the Contemporary Stage

One of my favorite classical-dance related blogs, Sacred Space, recently posted a teaser from the upcoming documentary film Odissi - From the Temples to the Contemporary Stage by Sandrine Da Costa (with collaboration by the Sacred Space blog author herself, Isabel Putinja).  The film is beautifully shot and looks to feature an excellent array of Odissi artists and performances. 

Click on the teaser screencap collage below to link to the original Sacred Space post to watch the teaser:

What struck me most was the recent footage of young male gotipua dancers!  A cursory look into Odissi history usually reveals its origins in the dances of the maharis and nartakis (Oriya temple and court dancers), the gotipuas (pre-pubescent boys apparently trained in acrobatic and mahari-imitative dance and dressed like girls), and perhaps the martial arts and dance theater traditions of the area.  Some writings allude that modern Odissi actually largely came from the gotipua and theater traditions (and it's interesting to note most of the men who came together to form "Odissi" were former gotipua and theater dancers).  For more on the subject, I would recommend the section "Odissi, Temple Rituals and Temple Sculptures" from Alessandra Lopez y Royo's online book ReConstructing and RePresenting Dance: Exploring the Dance/Archeology Conjunction hosted at the Stanford Humanities Lab website [Update: The Stanford site is no longer available, but the book can be viewed at Lopez y Royo's Academia page].  (Sidenote: I've just discovered her writings in a couple hardcopy dance books I've been reading and she looks to have some fascinating information/theories.)

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5 comments Documentary, Odissi, Sujata Mohaptra

Found: Bhavantarana (and other lovely dance-related documentary clips!)

I've found a 4.5-minute snippet from Kumar Shahani's documentary Bhavantarana ("Immanence," 1991) about the late Odissi Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra!  2012 is turning out to be the year of finding films from my obscure wish list post; last week I found Kann Sivandhaal Mann Sivakkum and this week has revealed a clip from Bhavantarana.

Here is the clip.  The first female Odissi dancer appears at 1:20 and then a young Odissi dancer can be seen starting at 1:42; the latter's performance is delightful! She dances while walking through a home until reaching the courtyard where her "guru" soon appears (guess who!). Kelucharan Mahapatra can finally be seen dancing at 3:32!

So why is the clip only 4.5 minutes?  The uploader is the "Public Diplomacy Division of India's Ministry of External Affairs" who created the channel to feature "a range of documentary films which have been commissioned by the Ministry of External Affairs over the last three decades. These documentary films showcase different facets of India..."  The reason the uploads are only excerpts is explained in the last line: "for purchasing full versions of the films shown here please contact mlf.core@gmail.com."  Turns out a trip to the Division's website [no longer online] reveals a link to the website of the distributor "Under Construction" [no longer online] where DVDs of these programs can be found!  The DVD of Bhavantarana can be purchased for $30.

But who can complain about partial clips when their very existence on YouTube is a blessing!  I'm guessing that these documentaries were/are probably shown every so often on Doordarshan or other TV channels but until now were difficult to view independently.

What I've been most excited to discover is that outside of Bhavantarana there are other dance-related documentaries and documentaries with dance-content among the uploads!  Here are all the ones I've found:

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10 comments Documentary, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Leela Samson, Shovana Narayan, Swapna Sundari

Natyacharya: An Upcoming Bharatanatyam Documentary

A while back, I happened upon this gorgeous slow-motion video of a solo Bharatanatyam dancer on YouTube and was completely mesmerized.

Isn't it stunning? I can't take my eyes off of her.  For a while I had a difficult time finding more information on where this "teaser" video was from (and I made a couple silly YouTube comments). Now I've got all the details.

The video is from an in-production documentary called "Natyacharya" and based on the life of Guru M.R. Krishnamurthy who studied under Rukmini Devi and then taught at Kalakshetra and later formed his own dance school Kalakshiti (The Hindu).  The documentary is being created entirely by DCAM Production Studios, and they now have a short trailer posted on their website which I've embedded below.  Clearly the cinematographic skills of the teaser are continued throughout the documentary as evidenced by the creative camera angles and varied focus.  It looks so pretty!

M.R. Krishnamurthy is a rather adorable elderly man, and from looking at some of the stills it appears he dances in the film himself.  I'm guessing that the woman in the teaser is one of his students at the dance school, and the stills give me the impression that other students dance in the documentary as well.

It's hard to find any updates on the film as DCAM's blog and Twitter page haven't been updated since January.  But given the sumptuous shots and a subject matter of Indian Classical Dance, the documentary looks to be a must watch!

Leave a Comment Documentary

Film Thoughts: La Danse De L’Enchanteresse (France, 2007)

A few days ago I sat down to write a post about La Danse De L’Enchanteresse (The Dance of the Enchantress), a French-produced Mohiniattam documentary by the famed Adoor Gopalakrishnan and French Mohiniattam exponent Brigitte Chataignier.  I was going to add it to my list of “Obscure Indian Films About Classical Dance” and whine and lament the fact that I would likely never be able to see it and forever be taunted by the trailer and select clips online.  While searching for more information on the film I found, to my astonishment, that it has been posted online, full-length, with English subtitles, for free, and at a legitimate source.  Really.  The source is Culture Unplugged, a website/foundation that among other things hosts online, non-commercial film festivals that jive with its mission of connecting cultures and uniting humanity (and lots of other stuff).  The video quality isn’t pristine, but beggars can’t be choosers can we!  UPDATE: Culture Unplugged no longer offers the video for public viewing, but I have discovered that in 2018 Sahapedia uploaded the film in five parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

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9 comments Documentary, Dr. Neena Prasad, Kalamandalam Kshemavathy, Kalamandalam Leelamma, Mohiniattam, Pallavi Krishnan, Smitha Rajan, Sreedevi Rajan, Usha Balaji