It was the movement of clouds that stirred Kalidasa to pen his epic poem Meghaduta. From time immemorial, writers, painters, filmmakers, dancers and performers have been inspired by rain and its drama.

Shaji N Karun

Cinematographer and director

Elements of Nature weave a canvas for Shaji N Karun, which he fills in with his brilliant interplay of light and shade. His last feature film, Olu, was an ode to Nature.

Shaji feels the rain reflects our mood, accentuating feelings of romance, fear, anxiety and melancholy. “It is life-giving, but it can also symbolise the end. In many ways, it is our interactions with the rain that makes each monsoon a boon or a bane. This year, as we go through a pandemic, I hope we have a benign monsoon that will not unleash its fury on us. But it again depends on how much we have interfered with Nature,” he says.

Shaji N Karun   | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat

In Piravi, his first film as director, the many moods of the rain is a leitmotif that acts as visual, aural and emotional trigger throughout the film. It is a metaphor that symbolises the absence of the son, the agony of the father, the sense of timelessness, the uncertainty and the longing of a father to meet his son.

He says, “Even the dialogues were connected to the rain... It was the constant presence of the rain that accentuated the missing son’s presence in Piravi even when he was not there in a single shot. We shot in pouring rain in a July and there was not a single day when most of us, including thespian Premji, were not soaked to the skin. I did not want to use artificial rain as there is a certain light that suffuses the surroundings during the monsoon and we were able to capture that in Piravi.”

VP Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhananjayan

Classical dancers

This monsoon, hopes Padma Bhushan-awardee VP Dhananjayan, will not be hazardous, but peaceful like the ones of his childhood. “With the pandemic around, We hope God will send a peaceful, calm and useful monsoon, the kind where we can make paper boats and float them in the water. One that will bring life back to normal.”

Dhananjayan and Shantha Dhananjayan   | Photo Credit: K_V_Srinivasan

Over a phone call from Chennai he says, “The rains and monsoon have always inspired mankind, but the artiste more than others.” The feted couple has celebrated the rains in three productions. The latest was Kumaransasn’s Karuna,choreographed for the poet’s centenary celebrations. “The production was on all the six seasons, but the rains were most elaborately expressed. The blowing winds, dancing trees, clashing clouds, the lightning and finally the downpour. It ends with the flowing river,We used western music for the piece,” says Dhananjayan.

JungleBook that was set to music by Pandit Vijayaraghav Rao and based on ragam Meghranjini, showcased the dance of the peacocks before the rains. “We were lucky to watch a dance by almost 100 peacocks against a backdrop of clashing clouds and thunder in Rajasthan,” recalls Dhananjayan.The couple choreographed and Ghanshyam - The Broken Branch, a social film on drug abuse made in collaboration with Pandit Ravi Shankar . “He was keen to show the seasons and the rain was depicted the rains from the first drop. ,” he says.

Anees Salim

Writer

The flood or the pandemic has not made the rains any less desirable for writer Anees Salim.

“Let it rain when I die,” says author Anees Salim, who often pictures his own death on a rainy day. “It is a perfect day to die,” he says, over phone from his home in Kochi.

Shaji N Karun   | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat

Anees’ writing has been hugely inspired by the rain — its sounds, its moods and the way it changes his world. He is inexplicably moved by it, “feeling everything but indifference”.

From evoking joy to despair and a whole spectrum of emotions, rains, for him, says the rains are also the perfect time to write. “I prefer it to the summer, any day.”

Anees particularly loves driving in the rain. “I like how it hits my car.” He adds that he loves travelling when it rains too.

The monsoon in Kerala is a shade more romantic than it is in other parts of the country, says the author, whose works usually carry a hint of a rain-drenched Kerala landscape. “There is an overtone of green here,” he says.“Look at the leaves the morning after a rainy day. All the dust is washed off and they appear brighter. These are the images that have stuck to my mind.”

Hari Menon

Photographer

What Hari Menon likes best about the rain is connected to being a photographer — the colours, especially the dark, deep hue the sky blue acquires before the rain.

Hari Menon  

“The pandemic has not changed or affected the way I feel about the monsoon,” he says. He adds, however, “It is not as fun as it used to be. Not only due to the obvious association with floods or the current situation, but also its nature — it soaks a person more. Now you need gear to protect the equipment. Water gets in everywhere. Earlier children enjoyed the rain, we don’t see much of that either.”

Hari says he savours the monsoon when he stays at Goa’s Latin quarter of Fontainhas in Panaji, with its vividly painted buildings. “The blue, yellow, green and red buildings are beautiful when they soak the rain,” Hari says.

His favourite places to shoot in Kerala during the monsoon? “Bekal Fort (Kasaragod), Athirapally — the waterfalls transform with rain — as does Kuttanad in Alappuzha.”

KP Reji

Artist

“The monsoon in Kerala has been terrible for the last two years and now with the pandemic, we only hope the rains are beneficial,” says Baroda-based contemporary visual artist K P Reji.

Kochi, Kerala, 01-12-2012: K P Reji one of participant of The Kochi - Muziris Biennale at pepper House, Fortkochi on Saturday. Photo:Thulasi Kakkat   | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat

He recalls the customary arrival of the monsoon in Kerala on June 1 as a day when schools reopened and remembers “running before the rain and running with the rain” as a child, along with the scent of wet earth.

Grey, green and brown dominate his monsoon-related work. “The grey of the sea and the sky, the green coconut trees and the colour of mud,” he says.

In the first edition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale in 2012, Reji showcased ‘Thumpinkal Chathan,’ a story of a chathan (a mythical figure) who saved farmlands from excessive rains.

Priyadarsini Govind

Dancer

The pandemic has affected dansuese Priyadarsini Govind deeply, emotionally. “It has taught us that things can change in a second. That we can take nothing for granted. Therefore, the feel of rain on our body has an added beauty and romance,” she says.

Priyadarshini Govind   | Photo Credit: NARENDRA DANGIYA

The Bharatanatyam exponent says she has always responded to the concept of rain through dance. “The sound of rain inspires introspection and the fragrance of moist earth revives memories of a happy, innocent childhood. The imagery of the peacock and the cool spray of water somehow signifies a new beginning for me.”

Of the many rain metaphors that she has used in her work is a poem by Mahakavi Subbaramania Bharati that she loves to recall. “It looks at Krishna as a mother and the different elements of Nature as the toys he gives his children,” she says.

T Kaladharan

Artist

T Kaladharan   | Photo Credit: H_Vibhu

The pandemic-imposed lockdown has cleared the air and this time, the rains will be brighter, says veteran artist T Kaladharan. “The first rains this time will not be black like they used to be. I will use bright colours to paint them now. The environment has got purified.”

In the 90s, Kaladharan did a series of works inspired by the rains. Called ‘Mazha peyyunnu, Manju pozhiyunnu’, the works were abstract, capturing the intangible emotions the monsoon invoked in him. “I used dark colours, black and grey. Those works were sold quickly,” he says, adding “I continued to do rain-inspired works for many years. But not anymore.”

(With inputs from Saraswathy Nagarajan, Priyadershini S, Shilpa Nair Anand, Anasuya Menon)