Certain compositions both in music and dance have an appeal that transcends time and it was this aspect that was evident in Swamimalai S.K.Rajaratnam’s choreography of the Husseni Swarajathi, the highlight of Dr. Srinidhi Chidambaram’s performance. In a beautiful arakku and gold costume, Srinidhi rose to the challenge of recreating this piece, which she had learnt as a 14-year-old, without any changes . This composition speaks of a nayika, who chides Lord Vishnu for being enamoured of another and pacifies him by professing her deep love when the other woman rejects him.
Srinidhi began with a prelude depicting the heroine stringing flowers awaiting her lord, but her depiction of the emotion when the lord finally arrives was abrupt and not convincing. She gained control and went on to depict other emotions with ease. The hint of sarcasm when speaking about the intoxication of the fish-eyed enchantress, the sringara bhava of the nayika and the suggestive sancharis to show episodes of Draupadi vastrapaharanam, Govardhana Giridhari, Gajendra moksham were moments of sparkling abhinaya. Precision of footwork, clarity of linear movements of the hands and gestures, combined with grace during the nritta sections, also highlighted the musicality and lyricism of the adavu patterns in the choreography.
The momentum of abhinaya was sustained in the Khamas raga Javali ‘Aparudu’. In keeping with the times, Srinidhi chose to perform a modern lullaby, based on a poem composed by lyricist Vairamuthu, about how a working mother juggles home and office. The depiction of a mother who uses gadgets and leads a frenetic life suddenly singing a lullaby seemed contrived and lacked conviction in portrayal.
The two other songs, an anjali in the beginning and a thillana at the end were in the form of a medley juxtaposing Raghuvamsasudha with a Kadhanakuthuhalam thillana of GJR Krishnan and a Lalgudi G Jayaraman composition with a prayer. The medley was novel and worked only to a certain extent in the thillana but in the anjali it distracted from the invocatory mode. Swamimalai Suresh’s clear rendition of sollukattus and Radha Badri’s singing enhanced the visual impact. Vijayaraghavan on the mridangam, K.P.Nandini on the violin and Sujith on the flute complemented the show with their orchestral support.
