Bharatnatyam, the Dalai Lama and I

[Guest guest]

Monday July 21 2003 14:22 IST

 

Bharatnatyam, the Dalai Lama and I

newindiapress.com

 

 

 

 

CHENNAI: The four-day Sathbavana Utsav, which was being held at

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, concluded on July 19. The grand finale was

played to a packed audience and was memorable for more reasons than

one.

 

Saturday evening began with the screening of I, S Krishnaswamy's

short film, which won the Special National Award having been adjudged

the best short film of the first 25 years of free India. The

documentary explored the Indian identity through the ages.

 

S Krishnaswamy's interview of the Dalai Lama, also screened at the

concluding ceremony, was the highlight of the evening. A much longer

interview, which had been edited to five minutes, centred around the

Dalai Lama's experience when he had come down to India to meet the

then Shankaracharya of Kanchi. ``When I saw his room and compared our

furniture, I concluded I was living in luxury,'' he laughed.

 

Also entertaining was the Bharatanatyam performance by Krishnaswamy's

daughters Gita and Lata. Through their dance, the two portrayed the

life of Jesus Christ and weaved the poetic thoughts of Saint Kabir.

This performance was produced especially for the concert. A treat to

the eye was Gita and Lata's performance painting four celestial

weddings - that of Sita, Valli, Rukmani and Meenakshi.

 

Present at the occasion were Union Minister of State for

Communication S Thirunavukkarasar, Tamil poet Vaali, member of

finance, Prasar Bharati S Sundaresan and retired IAS officer Dr P

Pandian.