The 56th edition of the Indradhanush festival was hosted by the Fine Arts Society (FAS), Chembur. The festival opened with an array of cultural programmes and the congratulatory video message of the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Suresh Prabhu.
Pt. Arvind Parikh, Sangeet Natak Fellow, was felicitated on the occasion by Ganesh Kumar, president, Board of Trustees.
Ganesh Kumar elaborated on the outreach programmes conducted by FAS to take music to schools and other learning venues.
This was followed by Shobana’s dance recital. She began with Mallari (Gambhira Nattai, Misra Chapu) and presented a piece as an ode to Padmanabha (Arabhi, Adi).
From Mythology
The varnam in Shanmukhapriya (Adi, Lalgudi Jayaraman) was about Vishnu with episodes of Kuchela, Vamana, etc.
Shobana portrayed Vamana and Tiruvikrama with ease. Her eloquent expressions in ‘Deva Munivar’ drew applause.
‘Pankaja Lochana’ (Kalyani, Misra Chapu, Swati Tirunal) presented by her student, Srividya Sailesh and ‘Yarukagilum Bhayama’ delineated by Shobana were the other items presented.
Shobana portrayed some episodes from the Ramayana in ‘Bhavayami’ (Ragamalika, Swati Tirunal. The special sounds of violin and mridangam during the depiction of the breaking of Sivadhanush by Lord Rama was the highlight of the segment.
Srividya Sailesh (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocals), Neyveli Radhakrishnan (violin), Anantha R. Krishnan (mridangam) and Rajendra (lighting) comprised the orchestra.
Tradition met innovation on the second day with Niladri Kumar and his Zitar ensemble. He presented Simhendra Madhyamam as the main piece accompanied by Vijay Ghate on the tabla, Anantha R. Krishnan on the mridangam, Shikhar Naad Qureshi on the percussion and Angello Fernandes on the keyboard.
Sunday turned out to be lively for the audience at the festival as it featured film actor and comedian, Johny Lever’s special show.
Comedy play
Coconut Theatre presented a situational comedy in Hindi, ‘Last Over’ directed by Suketu Shah. It was based on the dangers of cricket addiction. Abhishek Patnaik is the writer and actor.
The story begins with the marriage registration of a young couple in London — Zubaina Kazmi, the Pakistani bride, a head chef, and Sunil Arora, the Indian groom, a catering manager. Contrary to the clichéd idea of bickering mothers, here two fathers cause the confusion.
Ananth Mahadevan as the bride’s father and Rakesh Bedi, the groom’s papa, are fanatic about cricket. They are ready to forego principles and ethics to get a seat in the gallery. But when their children get fired by the employer because of their bickerings, they mend their ways.
The urban setting, apt lighting and dialogue with cricket metaphors lent an edge.
‘Blockbuster,’ a musical entertainer in English, was presented by Hormuzd Khambata, written by Bharat Dabholkar and Suresh Menon. The content draws inspiration from every corner of the country in music, dance and narrative with a cast of 35.
Old hits including ‘Baar baar dekho’ and ‘Eena meena deeka,’ were enjoyed by the audience.
The political jokes, a parody on award functions, mimicking Anil Kapoor, were enjoyed by the audience but some were crass and could have been avoided.
Modern Lavani dance, the Goan dance and Dandiya were part of the programme.
‘Hamare sang sang,’ light music by Anil Bajpai, Alok Katdare, Neelima Gokhale and Sampada Goswami was an aural feast. A high-five to the accoustics team for making the renditions ear-friendly.