A Failure of Imagination? Preserving Hindu Culture in Changing World

[Guest guest]

[One of India's foremost classical dancers, Anita Ratnam, knows how

to reach out to her audience — whether it is through her graceful

movements, choreography, theatre, photography, news stories, movies,

guest columns in leading publications or the internet — she's been

there, done that.

 

Hailing from the illustrious TVS industrial family, Anita, with a

Master's degree in Theatre and Television from USA, was the first

Asian to produce and host a weekly news and cultural programme in

the US from 1981-1990 and was honoured as the 'Outstanding TV

Ambassador' for enhancing American awareness of India. She has

forayed into films too with 'Kandukondein Kandukondein' and 'Boys',

both in Tamil. She has edited and published two best-selling

editions of Nartaki, the directory of classical music and dance.

 

In the city last week, as the chief guest at the Inner Wheel Clubs'

conference 'Pranati', Anita shares with SOM her thoughts about

culture and tradition and her passion for dance. — Ed]

 

Star of Mysore (SOM): You have always very vociferously stood for

preserving the culture and tradition of our land. In these times of

jet-paced changes, is there any hope?

 

Anita Ratnam (AR): There is no simplistic solution to this. I myself

come from a family where my mother and father belong to different

backgrounds with different sets of ideals. My mother hails from an

illustrious family of lawyers. In fact, my grandfather was the first

advocate to be knighted by the British. My father belongs to a

family of entrepreneurs. I took up dance against the wishes of my

family. Dance as a hobby was okay, but as a profession…

 

SOM: You are so passionate about Indian culture, but why the

apprehensions about it being diluted?

 

AR: I wouldn't say diluting. The culture of India cannot be static.

It should be dynamic and evolve. We need to treat it like a river,

ever-flowing, meandering, gathering information as it goes by.

 

SOM: But you seem to be opposed to change.

 

AR: No! I didn't mean that. I am very much for change, but look at

the velocity and the nature of change. Don't you think we have lost

the ability to imagine.

 

SOM: What has dance got to do with it?

 

AR: Dance represents the last baton of human imagination. In solo

performances, you conjure up all the characters of humans with

abhinaya. But, in spite of all this, the irony is, we need to

explain what a dancer does! We have lost the ability to receive, to

enjoy music. TV is the main culprit.

 

SOM: But that's a popular medium.

 

AR: It is a popular medium, agreed. But Indian television is only

propagating popular culture — the cinema culture. I am glad Rotary

asked for a dance programme (by Nirupama and Rajendra) on the

occasion of this meet instead of a fashion show! But there too, I

noticed that it was just the first 25 rows who were keenly

interested.

 

SOM: Are you blaming the youngsters?

 

AR: No! I am blaming the parents! A lot of youngsters today are

making their own decisions, going to different streams.

 

SOM: But the present generation needs to go global, don't they?

 

AR: Look, I am not saying stick to this alone. We are so much into

branded goods and the MNC tags that we don't even glance at our

indigenously made goods, which are good enough. In a week, take your

children to the mall for 6 days. But can't we spare a day to take

them out to a place of performing arts?

 

SOM: You have been a TV producer yourself, but say TV is the culprit

in nipping the imagination of Indian audience?

 

AR: Be honest and tell me what is the quality of entertainment

sector of Indian television? The news programmes are wonderful,

informative with an international quality. But sorry to say that the

entertainment quotient is hopeless! In these terms, Indian TV is

very immature. You are not real. The irrelevant saasbahu serials

have nothing creative about them. They are ridiculous with full of

over-painted faces and nothing more.

 

SOM: Your TV shows were much-acclaimed. How do you say you were

different from others?

 

AR: I wouldn't say I was different. But yes, my shows did make a lot

of difference in the lives of Indians living in America then. TV is

such a powerful media and it needs to be made use of more

judiciously. What about children? Is there any good programmes for

them? In the West, the 3 to 5 pm slot, the time kids come back home,

is exclusively for the kids. Prime time is only after 8. Here there

is nothing. Only English cartoons which have been dubbed in Hindi. I

heard that Virginia Entertainment, along with Deepak Chopra and

Shekar Kapoor, will be making animations of Indian mythology soon.

Who knows? You may see Goddess Durga in a leather suit lashing a

whip! Our kids too will start to think that Durga looked like this.

Is that giving them the right picture about our culture?

 

SOM: But will children really be interested in seeing something

related to our culture?

 

AR: Of course yes, when presented in a proper format. We need to

learn to start small, take delight in small things, like story

telling. If the Harikatha tradition is continued and modified to

make children understand them, how wonderful it would be!

 

SOM: Coming back to dance, why do you think women make better

dancers?

 

AR: Basically, male dancers come in with a distinct

disadvantage .Classical repertoires are written for women.

Traditionally men were the teachers and musicians and women were

their students. The tradition of Indian bhakti rasa has the voice of

women, though they are written by men, because it is believed that

women are the purest way to reach nirvana… a female spirit is more

pure. To avoid males looking effeminate, people like Rukminidevi

Arundale introduced forms like Kathakali as a training vehicle for

men. Men are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to looks.

 

SOM: You mean only good looking women become good dancers?

 

AR: The qualities that make a good dancer is not just technical

skills. It is the x-factor too. Generally people like to watch a

beautiful woman dance. Yes, Gurus like Keluchandra Mahapatra or

Birju Maharaj have transcended the idea of good looks. So wonderful

was their art. Even today, dance recitals by men click more when

they have a female counterpart. By themselves, I don't think males

would attract rasikas.

 

SOM: You are not perturbed by the critics?

 

AR: Look, India lives in many centuries at the same time. You go to

one place and you feel they live in the 16th century, come to

another place and you know it's the jet-setting century. There are

conflicts — accusations of corrupting and diluting the art comes in

when the dancers adapt their art to suit the kind of audience they

are addressing. Thankfully there is no writer in India today who can

ruin the talents of a good dancer!

 

SOM: So, you, as an accomplished artiste yourself, have no qualms

about artistes performing for money?

 

AR: Whether we like it or not, everyone needs money to survive and

artistes are no exception. Earlier they had the patronage of the

Maharajas, but today? What is wrong if they perform for money? They

are giving something in return, they are entertaining the audience

and also creating an awareness in them. Why should only businessmen

and politicians make money? Nobody gives an artiste a free cup of

tea, just because he is so and so. We all have to pay our bills. I

too do corporate shows and I get quality audience there too, apart

from the big money. I need to pay my troupe members.

 

In December every year, which is the dance season in Chennai, I

hardly make any money when I perform for the so-called serious

rasikas.

 

SOM: How do you see the status of Indian women today?

 

AR: Today the Indian woman is at a very exciting and interesting

stage. Things are changing so fast and the genius of the Indian mind

is very much in place in spite of all the western exploitation.

Indian women are going places with their skill and intelligence. But

while there is this kind of progress at one end and the NGOs and

other organisations like Inner Wheel are trying to further

sisterhood and the dignity of women, at the other end media is

reducing women to mere products! A perfect example to this is the

recent Auto Expo in New Delhi. What has scantily clad girls to do

with cars? But the fact remains that the cars which had the most

scantily clad girls modeling for it, sold most! Here again, where

has all the culture gone? Popular culture has never been at its

worst than it is now!

 

SOM: The Indian women need to be more assertive?

 

AR: They have it in them to make a fruitful life for themselves.

They are not puppets and even in the media, there should be

stringent rules about how they are portrayed — not just in attire

but also in attitude. I think they need to realise that marriage is

not the be all and end all in life. They need to inculcate the

courage and the power to say 'no'. I walked out of a bad marriage

with a three-week-old baby! If it doesn't work, it doesn't. The

parents should be supportive and encourage their daughters to grow

as capable strong individuals.

 

SOURCE: Star of Mysore. Rasikas prefer to watch beautiful female

dancer to male: Anita Ratnam By Nandini Srinivasan

URL: http://www.starofmysore.com/searchinfo.asp?

search1=1413&search2=specialnewsnew

[Guest guest]

I will say, this is our sweet Goddess speaking in the form of Anita Ratnam.

What a lovely mind :-D

 

True (as a man) I would rather see a beautiful woman than a handsome man

perform. Broadly speaking, is not Shiva (consciousness/male) the observer and

Parvati (shakti/female) the observed.

 

I think the bottom line, is to be true to ones-self. This is what I find so

beautiful about Anita though this interview ! I find such character an

inspiration for me.

 

Thanks for sharing this article Devi :-)

 

Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta wrote: [One of India's foremost

classical dancers, Anita Ratnam, knows how

to reach out to her audience � whether it is through her graceful

movements, choreography, theatre, photography, news stories, movies,

guest columns in leading publications or the internet � she's been

there, done that.

 

Hailing from the illustrious TVS industrial family, Anita, with a

Master's degree in Theatre and Television from USA, was the first

Asian to produce and host a weekly news and cultural programme in

the US from 1981-1990 and was honoured as the 'Outstanding TV

Ambassador' for enhancing American awareness of India. She has

forayed into films too with 'Kandukondein Kandukondein' and 'Boys',

both in Tamil. She has edited and published two best-selling

editions of Nartaki, the directory of classical music and dance.

 

In the city last week, as the chief guest at the Inner Wheel Clubs'

conference 'Pranati', Anita shares with SOM her thoughts about

culture and tradition and her passion for dance. � Ed]

 

Star of Mysore (SOM): You have always very vociferously stood for

preserving the culture and tradition of our land. In these times of

jet-paced changes, is there any hope?

 

Anita Ratnam (AR): There is no simplistic solution to this. I myself

come from a family where my mother and father belong to different

backgrounds with different sets of ideals. My mother hails from an

illustrious family of lawyers. In fact, my grandfather was the first

advocate to be knighted by the British. My father belongs to a

family of entrepreneurs. I took up dance against the wishes of my

family. Dance as a hobby was okay, but as a profession�

 

SOM: You are so passionate about Indian culture, but why the

apprehensions about it being diluted?

 

AR: I wouldn't say diluting. The culture of India cannot be static.

It should be dynamic and evolve. We need to treat it like a river,

ever-flowing, meandering, gathering information as it goes by.

 

SOM: But you seem to be opposed to change.

 

AR: No! I didn't mean that. I am very much for change, but look at

the velocity and the nature of change. Don't you think we have lost

the ability to imagine.

 

SOM: What has dance got to do with it?

 

AR: Dance represents the last baton of human imagination. In solo

performances, you conjure up all the characters of humans with

abhinaya. But, in spite of all this, the irony is, we need to

explain what a dancer does! We have lost the ability to receive, to

enjoy music. TV is the main culprit.

 

SOM: But that's a popular medium.

 

AR: It is a popular medium, agreed. But Indian television is only

propagating popular culture � the cinema culture. I am glad Rotary

asked for a dance programme (by Nirupama and Rajendra) on the

occasion of this meet instead of a fashion show! But there too, I

noticed that it was just the first 25 rows who were keenly

interested.

 

SOM: Are you blaming the youngsters?

 

AR: No! I am blaming the parents! A lot of youngsters today are

making their own decisions, going to different streams.

 

SOM: But the present generation needs to go global, don't they?

 

AR: Look, I am not saying stick to this alone. We are so much into

branded goods and the MNC tags that we don't even glance at our

indigenously made goods, which are good enough. In a week, take your

children to the mall for 6 days. But can't we spare a day to take

them out to a place of performing arts?

 

SOM: You have been a TV producer yourself, but say TV is the culprit

in nipping the imagination of Indian audience?

 

AR: Be honest and tell me what is the quality of entertainment

sector of Indian television? The news programmes are wonderful,

informative with an international quality. But sorry to say that the

entertainment quotient is hopeless! In these terms, Indian TV is

very immature. You are not real. The irrelevant saasbahu serials

have nothing creative about them. They are ridiculous with full of

over-painted faces and nothing more.

 

SOM: Your TV shows were much-acclaimed. How do you say you were

different from others?

 

AR: I wouldn't say I was different. But yes, my shows did make a lot

of difference in the lives of Indians living in America then. TV is

such a powerful media and it needs to be made use of more

judiciously. What about children? Is there any good programmes for

them? In the West, the 3 to 5 pm slot, the time kids come back home,

is exclusively for the kids. Prime time is only after 8. Here there

is nothing. Only English cartoons which have been dubbed in Hindi. I

heard that Virginia Entertainment, along with Deepak Chopra and

Shekar Kapoor, will be making animations of Indian mythology soon.

Who knows? You may see Goddess Durga in a leather suit lashing a

whip! Our kids too will start to think that Durga looked like this.

Is that giving them the right picture about our culture?

 

SOM: But will children really be interested in seeing something

related to our culture?

 

AR: Of course yes, when presented in a proper format. We need to

learn to start small, take delight in small things, like story

telling. If the Harikatha tradition is continued and modified to

make children understand them, how wonderful it would be!

 

SOM: Coming back to dance, why do you think women make better

dancers?

 

AR: Basically, male dancers come in with a distinct

disadvantage .Classical repertoires are written for women.

Traditionally men were the teachers and musicians and women were

their students. The tradition of Indian bhakti rasa has the voice of

women, though they are written by men, because it is believed that

women are the purest way to reach nirvana� a female spirit is more

pure. To avoid males looking effeminate, people like Rukminidevi

Arundale introduced forms like Kathakali as a training vehicle for

men. Men are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to looks.

 

SOM: You mean only good looking women become good dancers?

 

AR: The qualities that make a good dancer is not just technical

skills. It is the x-factor too. Generally people like to watch a

beautiful woman dance. Yes, Gurus like Keluchandra Mahapatra or

Birju Maharaj have transcended the idea of good looks. So wonderful

was their art. Even today, dance recitals by men click more when

they have a female counterpart. By themselves, I don't think males

would attract rasikas.

 

SOM: You are not perturbed by the critics?

 

AR: Look, India lives in many centuries at the same time. You go to

one place and you feel they live in the 16th century, come to

another place and you know it's the jet-setting century. There are

conflicts � accusations of corrupting and diluting the art comes in

when the dancers adapt their art to suit the kind of audience they

are addressing. Thankfully there is no writer in India today who can

ruin the talents of a good dancer!

 

SOM: So, you, as an accomplished artiste yourself, have no qualms

about artistes performing for money?

 

AR: Whether we like it or not, everyone needs money to survive and

artistes are no exception. Earlier they had the patronage of the

Maharajas, but today? What is wrong if they perform for money? They

are giving something in return, they are entertaining the audience

and also creating an awareness in them. Why should only businessmen

and politicians make money? Nobody gives an artiste a free cup of

tea, just because he is so and so. We all have to pay our bills. I

too do corporate shows and I get quality audience there too, apart

from the big money. I need to pay my troupe members.

 

In December every year, which is the dance season in Chennai, I

hardly make any money when I perform for the so-called serious

rasikas.

 

SOM: How do you see the status of Indian women today?

 

AR: Today the Indian woman is at a very exciting and interesting

stage. Things are changing so fast and the genius of the Indian mind

is very much in place in spite of all the western exploitation.

Indian women are going places with their skill and intelligence. But

while there is this kind of progress at one end and the NGOs and

other organisations like Inner Wheel are trying to further

sisterhood and the dignity of women, at the other end media is

reducing women to mere products! A perfect example to this is the

recent Auto Expo in New Delhi. What has scantily clad girls to do

with cars? But the fact remains that the cars which had the most

scantily clad girls modeling for it, sold most! Here again, where

has all the culture gone? Popular culture has never been at its

worst than it is now!

 

SOM: The Indian women need to be more assertive?

 

AR: They have it in them to make a fruitful life for themselves.

They are not puppets and even in the media, there should be

stringent rules about how they are portrayed � not just in attire

but also in attitude. I think they need to realise that marriage is

not the be all and end all in life. They need to inculcate the

courage and the power to say 'no'. I walked out of a bad marriage

with a three-week-old baby! If it doesn't work, it doesn't. The

parents should be supportive and encourage their daughters to grow

as capable strong individuals.

 

SOURCE: Star of Mysore. Rasikas prefer to watch beautiful female

dancer to male: Anita Ratnam By Nandini Srinivasan

URL: http://www.starofmysore.com/searchinfo.asp?

search1=1413&search2=specialnewsnew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit your group "" on the web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are the most popular cars? Find out at Autos

 

 

[Guest guest]

Anita Ratnam: "I heard that Virginia Entertainment, along with

Deepak Chopra and Shekar Kapoor, will be making animations

of Indian mythology soon. Who knows? You may see Goddess

Durga in a leather suit lashing a whip! Our kids too will start to

think that Durga looked like this. Is that giving them the right

picture about our culture?"

 

Here's what she's referring to:

 

Hindu epic Ramayana reborn in comics

 

Hollywood's search for new mythologies now extends to the

Indian subcontinent.

 

Rachel Abramowitz

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=18&a

rt_id=10536&sid=6346611&con_type=1

The Standard

China's Business Newspaper

re-printed from the L.A. Times

 

Hollywood's search for new mythologies now extends to the

Indian subcontinent. One of the world's greatest stories, India's

Ramayana, is being retold as a post-apocalyptic comic book, in

Ramayana Reborn, with an animated television spinoff for kids

titled The Seven Sounds.

 

This is the brainchild of the newly launched Virgin Comics and

Virgin Animation, an entertainment partnership between

British billionaire Richard Branson, bestselling New Age

author Deepak Chopra, film director Shekhar Kapur (Bandit

Queen and Elizabeth) and India's leading licenser of comic

books, Gotham Entertainment Group, which has brought

Spider-Man and X-Men to Delhi and Mumbai, as well as

launched a new Indian version of Spider-Man.

 

"The Ramayan is the Eastern equivalent of the Odyssey. It is

our Lord of the Rings, says Gotham Chopra, Deepak's 30-year-

old son, a former TV personality, author and producer, and the

new venture's chief creative officer.

 

The new companies, based respectively in New York and

Bangalore, India, are using Asian-influenced comics as the

platform to build a global media company.

 

"We felt that interest in this Asian- edged content, this is the

growing wave," says Chopra. "Richard, as a big Western

billionaire, recognized that the future of entertainment is in the

East, not necessarily in Hollywood."

 

This is the first major foray for Branson's Virgin empire into

the world of comic books in 20 years, a thriving arena in the

United States, which has been the springboard for many

Hollywood blockbusters.

 

"The growth of the comic market in America has been

spectacular," notes Adrian Sington, executive chairman of

Virgin Books, who is supervising the multi-million US dollar

investment for Virgin.

 

"It's been led by comics made in Asia. Despite the fact that

India has a mature entertainment business, with movies and

sports, it's had no comic business. They're leveraging the talent

of Indian creators and moving them like manga into the West.

We're looking to help them do that."

 

According to news reports, comic books saw their sales jump 9

percent in the United States last year. Still, Marvel, one of the

industry's giants, made twice as much money licensing

superheroes to the movies than on the sale of comic books.

 

The comics business in the United States is a fraction of what it

is in some countries. According to Forbes, manga - a style of

Japanese comics - is a US$5.6 billion (HK$43.68 billion)

industry.

 

Virgin Comics is already in development on three separate

lines of comics: Maverick, based on the work of songwriters;'s Cut, working with film directors (John Woo has

signed on); and Shakti, which will focus on Indian content.

 

Shakti means "power" in Hindi, and titles in the line include

Devi, which means "goddess." Chopra describes the character

as "Asia's first super woman."

 

"She wears the different faces of the goddess," he said. "On

one hand she plays the typical submissive Asian housewife, on

the other hand she's Angelina Jolie." Another story line

concerns a 19th century English soldier who becomes a

disciple of a sadhu, who trains him to become a spiritual

warrior.

 

Sharad Devarajan, the new venture's chief executive, says the

plan is to publish comics in the United States, Japan and, of

course, in India, not a traditional comic powerhouse but where

there will be an estimated 550 million teenagers by the year

2015.

 

Deepak Chopra is very much involved, says his son.

 

"A lot of people, like my father and Shakur, they're tired of

India being relegated to being this backroom, this place for

outsourcing. They both felt that India has this incredible pool

of talent, and [wanted to], if they could, be part of the creative

renaissance."

 

LOS ANGELES TIMES

[Guest guest]

This is quite interesting. I think that irrespective of the portrayal, the path

is spiritual > living towards the truth > I love my Kali as a cutie :-D (one

portrayal attached), but scriptures say she is a hag in skin and bones, yuck !

yuck ! I don't care, God is every form (say Maya) and beyond ! Imagine

restricting God to a form - a whip-cracking leather clad Devi, ... I say why not

! If she sits in my heart, I am made ! I try to accept wrong/right, good/evil

because I try to see all expressions of a glorious/non-glorious finite/infinite

divinity/non divinity ;-) If I cannot acccept something, then by default I must

accept the non-acceptance as well. Sanity/Insanity ! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

msbauju <msbauju wrote: Anita Ratnam: "I heard that Virginia

Entertainment, along with Deepak Chopra and Shekar Kapoor, will be making

animations of Indian mythology soon. Who knows? You may see Goddess Durga in a

leather suit lashing a whip! Our kids too will start to think that Durga looked

like this. Is that giving them the right picture about our culture?"

 

Here's what she's referring to: