Arno Kamolika ’s interpretation of Shyama – a Review

The following review is long over due…

I had the pleasure of watching Arno Kamolika’s interpretation of the Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore’s Shyama, last weekend. What an amazing performance it was!

Shyama, a tragedy, is one of the many great works of Tagore.

Shyama, the Royal Court dancer falls in love with a foreign merchant Bojrosen. She sees him as a captive of the Royal Guard, who has falsely accused him of stealing a precious jewel from the Palace. It was love at first sight for Shyama, and the time stops for her, in that moment. She had to save Bojrosen, by hook or by crook. Shyama requests the guard to keep him safe for two days, during which time she sends in the silly boy, Uttiyo in place of Bojrosen to free him. Though Shyama has rejected Uttiyo, he is in love with her and is willing to sacrifice himself, so that he could always have a place for himself in her heart. Bojrosen and Shyama escape from the Royal Palace and live happily with the local villagers. When Bojrosen comes to know of the truth of his freedom, he is not able to accept the heinous crime committed by Shyama to save him and therefore abandons her, forever.

In this production (Direction by Rohit Chokhani) the poignant tragic tale of Shyama was beautifully portrayed, as a soothing, but melancholic song. Arno has lived the character of Shyama. The way she has expressed her love and pain for Bojrosen, the ridicule and gratitude for Uttiyo was spellbinding.

Arno has been well supported by
Vidya Kotamraju as Bojrosen
Grihalakshmi Soundarapandian as Uttiyo in the first half and the villager/Sadhvi (Sannyasini/Nun) in the second half
Royal Guard Jay Ravindra
Sakhi by Malavika Santhosh.

Vidya, in the second half has emoted the pain of guilt and separation so well, that as audience, we could become one with her and want her to attain freedom. Grihalakshmi as Uttiyo was so jubilant, silly and vile, all rolled into one. When Uttiyo sacrifices himself, we could feel his selfish intentions – as he could never have Shyama, in a way he wanted to punish her, by tormenting her for the rest of her life.

Deviating from Tagore’s original, this production has opted for a very convincing conclusion for the character of Shyama. The drama begins with Shyama and also ends focusing her. The synchronization at the very end by all four, closing this production was just so good – all four were rotating exactly at the same time, so well synced, when the lights turned off and the curtains were pulled.

It would have been better if more Bharatanatyam steps and movements were incorporated, as this was a Bharatanatyam interpretation. Though I am not a professional, there were certain portions where I felt that it was more of another classical dance form and not Bharatanaytam.

One of the doubts that I initially had was, how could a Bengali poem / drama be adapted for a Bharatanatyam performance. This was shattered by the artists right in the beginning itself, within minutes into the program. The key flow of the story being displayed in the LCD helped. Once, we immersed ourselves into the drama of Shyama that was unfolding itself, the essence of Shyama transcended beyond language – once again proving that dance and music has no boundaries or barriers.

The music was so soothing and just flowed as a river.

Over all, a wonderful performance, an evening well spent. Hoping to see more such presentations in future!