A performance becomes delightful when a dancer shows potential in bringing perfection to her or his dance, that too without failing to enjoy the process. It was that aspect that made a solo Bharatanatyam recital by Saran Mohan stand apart from many such recitals. A native of Thiruvananthapuram, Saran had his initial lessons from gurus like V. Mythili and Radha Anilkumar before moving to Kalakshetra.
Saran caught the attention of his viewers right from the start with an alarippu in Misra chapu tala. He had an innate comfort with the adavus that he performed. ‘Nandagopalane...’, a varnam in Bhairavi by Periasamy Thooran, was the main piece. Here the nayika goes on describing the virtues of Krishna, and Saran did well while switching to the role of the protagonist in those tales. Avoiding too many elaborations and not overdoing the expressive part, he presented them with gravity.
The jathis weren’t stretched, and Saran came good in his performance. It would have been even better if he was able to bring the kind of fluency he had shown above the waist to his footwork as well.
Saran moved ahead, portraying mother Yashoda playing with little Krishna in ‘Jagadodharana...’, a Purandara Dasa composition in Kapi, Adi. Some tales that were presented a little while earlier were touched upon again. But this time as the motherly reflections of Yashoda. As a mother, she was worried about Krishna as he killed Poothana or while he tamed Kaliya. Saran made it impressive with short scenes such as the mother adorning her son, playing dice with him and fondly embracing him. At the end, Yashoda asserts that he might be a saviour for everyone else, but “for me he is my son”.
‘Adum Chidambaramo, Ayyan Koothadum Chidambaramo?’ wonders Gopalakrishna Bharati and Saran did well in translating that mood into his dance. He looked elegant in those standstill postures that came in between, though a little more briskness in dance would have helped. Thillana in Hindolam in praise of goddess Kamakshi, a composition of Thirugokarnam Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, was the concluding piece.
The pieces were choreographed by Girish Madhu of Kalakshetra, except for the Purandara Dasa keerthana and the thillana, which were set to dance by Bragha Bessell and Rukmini Devi Arundale respectively.
