It was timely revival of a memory lost in the pages of history. “Remembering Ramgopal” (on his birthday-November 20) on the legendary dancer of the last century was an evening of interactive screening of a film. Says veteran art critic Sunil Kothari:, “In my youth, I had interviewed him, moved with him, was on the verge of writing his biography as requested by him. Like all others who came into contact with Ramgopal, I too couldn’t help admiring him as a dancer. He was simply mesmerising.” He drew a parallel between contemporaries Uday Shankar and Ramgopal who were totally different from one another yet “juxtaposed” in terms of dance and global reputation. And with this introductory backed by a clipping of Sunil Kothari’s interview session with the dancer (audience got so engrossed that they asked for more), the show began. We were in for glimpses of this towering personality’s dance which was the contributing factor that made him larger-than-life. And as the time worn reel spun its way through in black and white we were treated to a magnificent Shiva, a fleeting Garuda, an alluring Krishna and a romantic Shah Jahan (in colour) -the roles Ramgopal took up for his dance in varied styles ranging from Kathakali to Kathak to Bharatanatyam. Yes, with his Burmese features prior to make-up and his God-like transformation post make-up, walking straight out of mythology.
His dance, from whatever one could glean, was a sculpture in life right from looks to movement; every nerve and sinew of his countenance could emote the expression that also radiated through his lithe body. He looked a picture perfect in motion.
Though he had quite a few disciples, he was unique and impossible to emulate. His talk about himself is replete with narcissim- he was proud of his drop-dead looks and his immeasurable talent. He was born to dance, as his disciple Kumudini Lakhia comments on some of his characteristics in the film. He was not interested in girls. He was born of Burmese mother and Rajput barrister father into an affluent family of Bangalore; his palatial house was called Torquey Castle and was home to many great personalities.
His mother had named him ‘Bissano’ (meaning 20 in Hindi correlating with his date of birth). About himself, Ramgopal says, “He saw the tribal dances during festivities in front of his house and it would spontaneously create a rippling rhythm in him and he would begin to dance for hours. Once in Mysore palace, he broke into a dance and amazed the royalty too. But there was no technique in that dance; it was God’s technique.” He later went for formal training despite his father’s opposition and learnt Kathakali from Guru Kunju Kurup. This was his favourite genre, though he later learnt both Bharatanatyam from the famous Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai and Kathak from Sohanlal. He amalgamated these forms into a coherent whole with his exposure to ballet dance. His costume, especially his headgear, was awesome both to the Indian and foreign audiences of his times.
The film was a collage of Ayesha Abraham’s documentary “I saw a God dance” and many footages from other archival sources. Dr. Kapila Vatsayan felt she had revisited her memorable days with Ramgopal through this film. As Sunil Kothari rightly remarked, “the 1930’s to ‘40s saw a surge of incredible dancer personalities from Uday Shankar to Mrinalini Sarabhai to Balasaraswati to Anna Pavlova to Rukmini Devi who went global solely with their art”, at a time when the world was not a global village as of now! This film should be screened at dance colleges and institutes along with other such films on great dancers of yesteryears as an inspiration and benchmark for young aspiring performing artistes.
