By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 10 May: An effort is being made to focus the Summer Art Festival-1 of Doon Library and Research Centre on various aspects of literature, art, song, music and cinematic art.
Today, on the third day of the festival, a group discussion was organised for the young students of the library in the morning session. In this, the participants – eight young students – expressed their views on its agreeable and disagreeable aspects. Social activist Himanshu Ahuja and historian Dr Yogesh Dhasmana were the judges. Ira Chauhan, who works on environmental issues, moderated the discussion.
The evening session featured three film documentaries based on community theatre and ‘subaltern’ dance. The first film, ‘Janni’s Juliet’, follows the journey of Pondicherry-based theatre group, Indianostrum.
The film attempts to navigate through and understand the barriers of caste and class and how women’s freedom and love are affected. It conceptualises a contemporary version of the classic Romeo and Juliet love story. Its duration is 53 minutes and is directed by Pankaj Rishi Kumar.
The duration of the second film, ‘The Journey from Sadir to Bharatanatyam’, was 26 minutes. It is directed by Viveka Chauhan. Bharatanatyam, a temple dance once believed to be the domain of devadasis, is now performed professionally by urban women. Now it has become a symbol of history. In this process, those aspects which had contributed to its birth and development have been erased. The documentary outlines what has been lost and what has been gained due to the transformation of subaltern dance styles into urban, ‘Brahminical’ dance styles.
The third documentary film screened was ‘Koothu’ of 53 minutes duration, directed by Sandhya Kumar. Traditionally, Kuthu was required to be practiced by ‘marginalised’ tribes to appease the local Gramadevi. Interviews conducted with two Kuthu masters help trace the evolution of the art. The first is Kattaikuttu artist and teacher P Rajagopal, who runs the Kattardkattat Garukalam in Kanchipuram with his wife and scholar Hane MD Bruin. Gurukulam is one of the first to take the initiative to institutionalise the art form and offer its past and present academic study.
The second Koothu master is Sambandan Thambiran, son of a veteran artist, Therukoothu Kannappa Thambiran. This documentary attempts to observe these practitioners and their students and takes a close look at their rehearsals and performances. This story of Kuthu attempts to weave together the politics of caste and gender around its aesthetics and tradition.
In today’s sessions, a large number of young students including people associated with theatre and film, litterateurs, writers, social workers and library members were also present.
