Bhawana Somaaya

For many years now Hema Malini has been performing a Krishna ballet on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami at Isckon temple, Juhu. Last year she performed Yashoda Krishna and this year she enthralled the audience with Radha Krishna choreographed by Bhushan Lakhandri and music composed by Ravindra Jain.

On this auspicious occasion she also released the third edition of my English translation of Krishna- The God who Lived as Man from Kaajal Oza Vaidya’s book in Gujarati published by Pustak Mahal.

In 2007 I did a biography on the actress titled Hema Malini-Authorised Biography published by Roli and released by Lal Krishna Advani in Delhi. I reproduce below excerpts of my biography on the actress discussing her journey of ballets on stage.
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In 1986 Hema Malini was introduced to a 20- year-old dancer portraying the role of Ram in a dance ballet she watched on television and it was a meeting that changed two destinies.

Their debut ballet The Bride Of Brindavan was the first of its kind in India. “Classical dance does not appeal to a universal audience, but ballets do, particularly to the rural audience. It’s because ballets involve three art forms: dance, drama and music. When these three forms are well synchronized the presentation is a success. When the combination is disproportionate, the audience gets restless. Performing artistes need to understand this. Only then can we fight for a rightful place for ballets in entertainment.”

The ballets ushered a new phase in her dancing career. Hema was often asked why she only chose mythological subjects. She said, “Mythologies offered her scope to incorporate different dance forms like Odissi and Mohiniattam. My face and demeanour is traditional and I like to perform an item that suits me, rather than blindly follow trends.”

Hema chose Meera because she liked the story of total surrender to God in the face of adversities. “The legend describes the circumstances that lead Meera’s husband to force her to consume a cup of poison and how she survives this injustice. “My love for Meera is an extension of my love for my guruma. She always emphasized on the virtue of surrender. Meera belonged to the sixteenth century but lived life on her terms. Her love for her Lord was selfless and flawless. We choreographed the ballet in Kathak because Meera heralds from North India and Bharatnatyam would not have been appropriate.”

In Radha Krishna the choreography attempts to bring to light a few notable events during Lord Krishna’s sojourn on earth, particularly, his youthful leela for which he is venerated. The stage presentation depicts the Lord’s mischief with the gopis of Brindavan, the special bond between Radha and Krishna and incidents depicting the Lord using his extraordinary powers to annihilate demon Arishtasur. “Radha Krishna are the eternal lovers. I have been performing various avatars of Krishna since my childhood. Krishna is an alluring God because he is a parakrami. For more than two decades it has been a tradition for me to perform on the Janmashtami day at the Iskcon fund raising concerts. Dancing on that day for me is a spiritual experience.”

Geet Govind is a poem of lyrical beauty composed by Jayadeva in the 12th century. It describes the many layers in the extraordinary relationship between Radha and Krishna.
From their physical attraction to the spiritual bonding the poem is a full circle when the Lord accepts Radha into his fold, more as a devotee than as a companion. “It is intriguing that only Radha is the recipient of Krishna’s affection even though all the gopis love him equally. The Madhurya Rasa, alias the mood of erotic love, is my favourite. I love the moonlit night and the humming bees when Radha and the other gopis come alive on stage.”

Her recent addition Yashoda Krishna is a tribute to universal motherhood. Yashoda was not Krishna’s biological mother but loved him to a point of obsession. Krishna was the life of Dwarka and the joy of all the gopis. He harassed them, robbed their clothes and when they complained to Yashoda, he pleaded non-guilty. The ballet elaborates on Krishna’s leela … his pranks and miracles. “Krishna reappears in all my ballets because he is alluring and leaves an impact in all the roles he plays – as a son, friend and lover. Yashoda Krishna is slightly different from my other ballets in the sense it is based on folklore and designed for a wider section of audience.”

Hema has held successful dance shows all over the world and traveled with a large group all around the world. Her chorus dancers who have worked with Hema for years say that she is never weighed down by her popularity. After so much power and success, there is still a child like quality to her and before the show she is all the time revising her steps.

Choreographer Bhushan Lakhandri who has been associated with Hema’s banner for over a decade and choreographed all her ballets from Nritya Mallika and Meera right to Draupadi says it has been an enriching association. He says it is not easy sustaining a creative relationship for such a long duration without conflicts. They have been able to do so because Hema does not impose herself as a producer. “She has been dancing for more than three decades but even now she is still as enthusiastic.”

Bhawana Somaaya
Available at stores-Krishna- the God who lived as Man Rs 350/-
Hema malini- Authorised biography Rs 450/-

Today is Janamashtami and as offering to the deity I reproduce the concept note and some excerpts from Krishna -The the God Who Lived as Man published by Pustak Mahal. Originally written as Krishnaayan by Kaajal Oza-Vaidya it is my first attempt in fiction and translation.

After the torturous Yadava yatra to Somnath where Krishna witnesses the devastation of his entire lineage, he arrives with a bleeding foot to Prabhas Kshetra. It is here resting beneath a peepal tree before the river Trivenisangam that Krishna reflects on the four most important relationships in his life — his wives (Rukmini and Satyabhama), beloved (Radha) and friend (Draupadi). Four contrasting personalities but bonded in a magnificent obsession, Krishna. Borrowing from the fable but original in structure and content, the book is fictional and a chronicle of man-woman equations. It is not the love story of Krishna or any one God. It is the story of every charismatic individual in contemporary times that dared to love many and was in return clamoured by several. It is the story of any arresting and sensitive person, intensely involved with his life.

***

The excerpts:

It was as if the river was overflowing with peacock feathers. They grew in heaps and added in numbers. Its texture and its innumerable colours drew unusual patterns in Krishna’s mind and the patterns entwined innumerable motifs from innumerable relationships…

Krishna who never knew leisure in his lifetime, today waited for time to take him across. And time deliberately moved slowly as if testing Krishna’s patience.

Krishna lingered on the heaps of peacock feathers. He wondered how many colours were imbibed in the feather… three… four… five… or were they innumerable…?

Colours of passion… of deprivation… of anxiety… of longing… of separation… of affection… of indecision…. of acceptance… of compassion… of surrender… of faith… of retreat… and of resignation…. It was as if all the colours had intermingled…. They conjured and erased different images in his mind….

So much can unfold before closed eyes… and so much was unfolding!

Krishna rolled his tongue over his dry mouth and was surprised to taste it salty. In a way unknown to him, his lips had drenched in his own tears.

***

Resting beneath the tree with his eyes closed it was as if Krishna was travelling the streets of Gokul… visiting the palace of Indraprasth.

Draupadi’s sparkling and questioning eyes stared at him from the sunlight in the sky… and asked, “Who are you thinking about at this moment, sakha?”

A little later, Rukmini’s faithful eyes, full of love but drenched in sorrow floated on the waves and trickled beneath Krishna’s feet as if stroking him to gently ask, “Are you too much in pain, my Lord?”

A while later Satyabhama’s dark, seductive eyes full of desire as if caressing every fibre of his body but full of pain and complain seemed to ask, “Why did you betray me, Prabhu?”

Radha’s limpid eyes as deep as the water in river Yamuna and as restless as a fish were covered with dark clouds of anxiety, anger and fear…. They bent over Krishna’s face like a peepal branch swaying in the breeze and asked, “Kaanha, you lied to me, didn’t you? You deceived me and didn’t come back after all…?”

The four images seemed to intermingle before Krishna’s eyes…. He tried hard to separate them but it was like separating the rivers entwined into Trivenisangam…. He tried though but like rivers Hiranya, Kapila and Saraswati, the images of Radha, Rukmini, Satyabhama and Draupadi blended and floated before Krishna’s eyes turning them moist from time to time…. Krishna made one more effort but it was futile…. He opened his eyes.

It was mid afternoon. The changing tides in the river and the scorching sunlight fluctuated like a flickering flame…. The peepal leaves fluttered in the cold breeze of the sea…. Krishna closed his eyes and waited in anticipation for that one voice…

A voice that would wake him up from this trance…. He was reminded of his own words again…

Sarganmandir Tashva Madhya Chaiyahmarjunah|
Adhyatmavidha Vidhana Vaadah Pravadtamahamah||

Akshranmakarodism Dwandvasamaskiya Cha|
Ahmevakshyah Kalo Dhataha Vishwatomukhah||

Dandah Damyatamasmi Nitirasim Jigishatomah|
Maunanchaivasmi Grihanagyanan Gyanavtamahomah||

Courtesy: www.bhawanasomaaya.com/003-books-authored.html
www.pustakmahal.com

These days I’m hooked on to tele-serial Sri Krishna on Colors channel. No matter where I am, I make sure to reach home before the show time 8.30. Not because it is the best serial on television but for the child star playing Krishna.

Unknowingly the little girl has a lot in common with her screen character. To begin with her real name is Krishna and was chosen for the role after 100 auditions were rejected by the producer. Like the deity the child has a purpose to her life- the serial. She is as much loved and pampered on the sets by the entire unit as perhaps little Kaanha was by the entire village in Gokul. Krishna was a saviour for his parents and the universe. The actor is a provider for his family and entertainer for the country. Krishna imparted his philosophy on the battle front. The child learnt to talk and walk on the sets of the serial…

There is a possibility that I see more meaning in to it than exists. There is a possibility that perhaps I’m obsessed with Krishna. That is why I was drawn to the book The God Who Lived As Man by Kaajal Oza Vaidya in Gujarati and translated it into English for Pustak Mahal. Reproducing below is my Foreword in the book.

Translator’s Note:
For years he was just an idol in our temple at home whom mother woke up every morning with a flame and a clanging bell.

Sometimes when she was occupied in her domestic chores, one of us sisters was instructed to follow the ritual which we did but we could somehow never match her fervour or her devotion for him.

The first time I struck an independent equation with Krishna was as a teenager when I was enrolled in Bharat Natyam dance lessons. In the five-year-long course of learning the art form, my colleagues and I were trained to sing paeans to the Lord and enact all the naayikas in his life – his mother, beloved, sakhi so much so that all of us unknowingly fell in love with him.

As I grew older, I learnt to decipher fact from fiction but the fragrance of the first crush lingered…

The reason I was attracted to translating Krishnaayan from Gujarati into English was because it explores Krishna as a man rather than as a God.

Lord Krishna is the most charismatic God of Hindu pantheon who was blessed with a boon to recreate his life in his last moments. After the torturous Yadava yatra to Somnath where Krishna witnesses the devastation of his entire lineage, he arrives with a bleeding foot to Prabhas Kshetra.

It is here resting beneath a peepal tree before the river Trivenisangam that Krishna reflects on the four most important relationships in his life – his wives (Rukmini and Satyabhama), beloved (Radha) and friend (Draupadi). Four contrasting personalities but bonded in a magnificent obsession, Krishna.

Borrowing from the fable but original in structure and content, the book is fictional and a chronicle of man-woman equations.

Did Krishna love these women as much as they loved him? Did he desire and yearn for them as much as they yearned for him? Who out of these four women was closest to his heart? Whom did he feel most secure with? Did he sometimes unknowingly discriminate one against the other or was he able to grant all of them equal justice always? Did the four women ever fantasise trading places with one another, only to scrutinise what went on in their beloved’s mind?

Was Krishna attracted to Rukmini, Satyabhama, Radha and Draupadi because they were extraordinary women or was it his halo that made them so special…? Would Krishna have been drawn to these women had he encountered them in different circumstances and surroundings?

Born in Mathura, reared in Gokul, ruled in Dwarika, was he content with his flow of life or did he secretly desire another life and a destiny for himself?

This book is not the love story of Krishna or any one God. It is the story of every charismatic individual in contemporary times that dared to love many and was in return clamoured by several. It is the story of any arresting and sensitive person, intensely involved with his life.

A wholesome relationship comes with requisite baggage of pathos and pain. But beneath the suffering are layers of happiness emanating from attachment. Love brings enrichment and enlightenment. It is our involvement with our dear ones that adds hues to our life… And that includes both the Supreme Entity and us ordinary mortals.

Krishna – The God Who Lived as Man is one such story of passion and pain.

Bhawana Somaaya