A few years back, when I was in the midst of being newly-enamored by this thing called "Classical Indian Dance" that I saw elements of in Hindi film dances, I read about the classical-oriented films of K. Vishwanath and on a whim purchased the Telugu film Swarnakamalam (Golden Lotus) without knowing anything about it. This turned out to be a pivotal decision because I fell in love with the film's rustic settings and charming characters and, most of all, Bhanupriya! I've already told a version of this story once in my (cheesy) How South Indian Films Stole My Heart post, but my focus here is solely on the jewel of Swarna Kamalam, Bhanupriya.
Showing posts with label Bhanupriya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bhanupriya. Show all posts
Film Classical Dances of Bhanupriya: Part 1 (Ode to Swarna Kamalam)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
A few years back, when I was in the midst of being newly-enamored by this thing called "Classical Indian Dance" that I saw elements of in Hindi film dances, I read about the classical-oriented films of K. Vishwanath and on a whim purchased the Telugu film Swarnakamalam (Golden Lotus) without knowing anything about it. This turned out to be a pivotal decision because I fell in love with the film's rustic settings and charming characters and, most of all, Bhanupriya! I've already told a version of this story once in my (cheesy) How South Indian Films Stole My Heart post, but my focus here is solely on the jewel of Swarna Kamalam, Bhanupriya.Film Classical Dances of Lakshmi Gopalaswamy
Friday, June 17, 2011
 |
| Photo by Ragesh Vasudevan/Flickr |
Outside of the promising start of Manju Warrier (who gave a nice performance as the second dancer in this song from Thooval Kottaram but let marriage end her budding career), I've not been impressed with a single recurring female dancer in recent films until I saw Lakshmi's dances.
What I love about Lakshmi is that she is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer that actually transfers that training well to film. It's refreshing to see someone with skill performing on screen. Unfortunately, the dance choreography she's been given hasn't fully lived up to her potential for the most part. More about her at the end of the post.
Classical Dance Practice Scenes/Songs in Indian Films
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Below is a list of all 34 practice numbers I can think of in Indian films where the purpose of the song or scene is not "performance" but rather informal "practice" overall. It's interesting how many of them are from the 80s and 90s, the seeming "golden era" of this type of classical performance in film. The videos below are listed in rough order of awesomeness, favorites first. If you can make it all the way to the end, consider yourself a classical dance nerd like me! (Or maybe it's just list-making nerd?) Enjoy!
My Favorite (Color) Classical Indian Film Dances
Monday, September 27, 2010
As a follow-up to my post yesterday regarding my favorite black and white Classical Indian Film Dances of all time, today's post lists my favorite color classical dances in Indian films!
Like my post yesterday, I focused on songs that are based on classical dances and included only those that are my absolutely top favorites that I enjoy watching repeatedly. There are some "classics" that I haven't included in my list simply because they are enjoyable but not my favorites (songs from films like Thillana Mohanambal, Pakeezah, Shankarabharanam, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, etc.) and there are some dances that aren't classical enough to be included (like those from Amrapali). I have a whole slew of posts coming up that will cover even more dances in all sorts of different categories!
As I noted in the black and white post, these dances are of course "not 'pure' classical dances but rather the filmy variety. What I love about film dances is the energy the camera generates through angles and editing as well as the beauty visualized through costume and set design. There’s just something magical about dances seen on screen."
Let's roll the list of my favorites in order of affection!
Like my post yesterday, I focused on songs that are based on classical dances and included only those that are my absolutely top favorites that I enjoy watching repeatedly. There are some "classics" that I haven't included in my list simply because they are enjoyable but not my favorites (songs from films like Thillana Mohanambal, Pakeezah, Shankarabharanam, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, etc.) and there are some dances that aren't classical enough to be included (like those from Amrapali). I have a whole slew of posts coming up that will cover even more dances in all sorts of different categories!
As I noted in the black and white post, these dances are of course "not 'pure' classical dances but rather the filmy variety. What I love about film dances is the energy the camera generates through angles and editing as well as the beauty visualized through costume and set design. There’s just something magical about dances seen on screen."
Let's roll the list of my favorites in order of affection!
How South Indian Films Stole My Heart
Monday, April 12, 2010
It really all started with Devdas, the extravagant Hindi period piece that was my third Indian film viewing experience. One of the main things I noticed in it and other later Hindi films was the distinct, beautiful dance styles of the actresses. Hands gestured in certain ways and postures and movements were defined along a similar plane. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, and it took a while before I discovered the connection of filmi Indian dance with Classical Indian Dance.
I had never seen anything as beautiful and as mesmerizing as Classical Indian Dance. I still haven't. It's vocabulary of movement was unlike anything I had seen, and I couldn’t believe that modern choreographers in the US were not more familiar with these forms and all the wonderful motions they prescribed. The dances I watched intently were so grounded and earthy. Rows of bells/ghungroos on the feet added another dimension to the dance as artists, particularly in Kathak, created intricate aural soundscapes with only their feet!
Dance in its Indian incarnation was a whole body experience: matching the rhythm of the music with the feet, creating beautiful pure dance lines and geometric angles with the body, telling stories with the gestural language of the fingers and hands, communicating emotion with the eyes and face… stunning. The carnatic/hindustani musical accompaniment was obviously incredibly complex with its intricate meters and percussion. On top of that, the costumes and fabrics and temple jewelery were the most beautiful thing I’d laid eyes on, surpassing even Balinese dance. I wondered- how had I never seen these art forms before? Artists like Alarmel Valli, Nahid Siddiqui and Sujata Mohapatra blew me away. The theatrical world of Kathakali and other Malayalee dance forms could take a lifetime to study. I became so obsessed that I had an entire YouTube channel solely devoted to uploading recent and archival clips of famous exponents of the classical dance forms. Unfortunately, my channel later got shut down due to a copyright claim. I like to dream that it's still floating out in between some microchips somewhere...
I had never seen anything as beautiful and as mesmerizing as Classical Indian Dance. I still haven't. It's vocabulary of movement was unlike anything I had seen, and I couldn’t believe that modern choreographers in the US were not more familiar with these forms and all the wonderful motions they prescribed. The dances I watched intently were so grounded and earthy. Rows of bells/ghungroos on the feet added another dimension to the dance as artists, particularly in Kathak, created intricate aural soundscapes with only their feet!Dance in its Indian incarnation was a whole body experience: matching the rhythm of the music with the feet, creating beautiful pure dance lines and geometric angles with the body, telling stories with the gestural language of the fingers and hands, communicating emotion with the eyes and face… stunning. The carnatic/hindustani musical accompaniment was obviously incredibly complex with its intricate meters and percussion. On top of that, the costumes and fabrics and temple jewelery were the most beautiful thing I’d laid eyes on, surpassing even Balinese dance. I wondered- how had I never seen these art forms before? Artists like Alarmel Valli, Nahid Siddiqui and Sujata Mohapatra blew me away. The theatrical world of Kathakali and other Malayalee dance forms could take a lifetime to study. I became so obsessed that I had an entire YouTube channel solely devoted to uploading recent and archival clips of famous exponents of the classical dance forms. Unfortunately, my channel later got shut down due to a copyright claim. I like to dream that it's still floating out in between some microchips somewhere...
