Maya Ravan Enthralls Hyderabad

The glorious mystique of Ramayana unfolded on the dais of Ravindra Bharathi as Shobana and her Kalarpana team performed Maya Ravan on Friday, September 18. The dance musical, choreographed and directed by the veteran actress, made an earnest attempt to skim through the entire scope of Ramayana highlighting the heroism of Ravana, while maintaining a bohemian jouissance and filminess.

Shobana, of course, was the centre of attraction. Although a lack of vigour was visible in her body language, her elegant frame and graceful movements made up for it. Archana Ganesan, who played the part of Sita, earned brownie points with the audience too.

An array of gifted voices lent believability to the mythical narrative. Naseeruddin Shah as Ravan was pure delight. The subtlety with which he rendered Ravana’s passion was out of the world. The atrocious Asura who threatens Janaka to give his daughter’s hand, the coy and love-struck demon who tries desperately to allure Sita, the penanced Rakshasa who confides helplessly in Mandodari – all the moods were safe in his experienced vocal cords. Other celebrity voices that Shobana put to use include Tabu as Mandodari, Rohini as Sita, Mohan Lal as Hanuman, Suhasini as Soorpanakha, Milind Soman as Rama, and Jackie Shroff as Dasaratha.

Maya Ravan boasts of a delectable compilation of music scores for its sound track. Put together by Ganesh Kumaresh, it forms the backbone of this epic dance drama. Tunes with an Arabian hint, Kurunthurai couplets, and soundtracks from the MGR era were all used efficiently to aid the narrative. Narumugaiye from Iruvar, one of A R Rahman’s all-time-bests, used as the signature love track for Rama and Sita, Chentharmizhi from Perumazhakkalam used during the Vanvaas sequence and Chinnamma Chilakamma from Meenaxi employed when Ravana naughtily disturbs Sita in Ashokavan were some of the delightful choices the crew made.

Maya Ravan acknowledges that it is inspired by the Ramayana Series by Ashok Banker. However, one genuine complaint that can be raised is that it did not do justice to its protagonist. Ramayana has enough variations that Shobana could have used to conceptually develop Ravana more. However, she chose to stick to the safe path and did not explore the possibilities that were available to demystify him further.

There were also cries that rose from the puritans that this performance should be bracketed out from ‘art.’ The criticism mainly rose from the fact that the performance was very ‘filmy.’ However, considering that Shobana had never made a claim that it was a pure Bharatanatyam performance, this is not a sound argument.

At one point in the dance drama, Ravana tells Sita, “Dharma can be interpreted differently by different people.” Art, too, can be defined and interpreted in various ways. Puritans may not agree, but Maya Ravan was art in one of the most entertaining avatars ever!

The opulent costumes added a great deal to the visual splendour of the production. Shobana herself had seven costume changes; others also indulged quite a number of times. It was remarkable how the colours of costumes were made to match the mood of particular scenes.