Journalism of Courage
Amidst middle-aged men and street smart puns,the Lavani performance at Balgandharva Rang Mandir earlier this week was a was a sensuous reminder of an age-old tradition
As the lights dimmed at the scantily crowded Balgandharva Auditorium,the audio transformed from low-whispering groups to a unified voice that began to cheer,whistle,scream and clap in anticipation of the show to begin. Even for a Wednesday afternoon,the atmosphere in the auditorium was a charged one. The very fact that an all male audience turned up for the Lavani performance was a subtle reminder of the popularity of the art form that is slowly finding its feet after having lived incognito in the past.
Host Kumar Patoles barrage of one-liners,with tongue-in-cheek humour had the audience in splits. The first in the series had one of the members of Sawant’s troupe perform a hip-breaking Lavani called ‘Saanga Naa Mi Kashi Dishte’. She gyrated her hips to the tunes of the synthesizer,the dholak,tabla and electronic drums. While a male singer called Sunil,sang the song behind the curtains in a female voice ,an audience member whipped out a camcorder to record the number.
The grand build up for Sawant’s performance ensured that the crowds were not left bored and wanting by a string of witty jokes interspersed in the performances by Patole. In one instance when he was pulling the leg of the late Mughal emperor Shah Jahan by chiding him for building the Taj Mahal,Patole turned towards us and remarked,’Te Bagha aamche Chikne Shah Jahan pan hastaya’ (Oh look even our clean shaven Shah Jahan in the aisles is laughing). Of course the good natured humour didn’t prevent us from turning beetroot red with the crowd repeating their,whistle-clap-scream routine.
Sawant’s dancing style ,combined with an audience gone wild dancing and sending her flying kisses ,while she winked ,was a whole new experience. Sawant’s performed a prem-geet (love song),and more than one person remarked on her dancing prowess. .
The second half of the performance saw Sawant perform a rain song; hats off to her for singing and dancing at the same time. Someone sitting next to us almost went to the extent of jumping on stage with Sawant,for his five minutes of glory. The high point during the performance came when the entire troupe performed the number Disla ga bai disla from V Shantaram’s film Pinjra. The fag end of the three hour long show saw Sawant perform the hugely popular Chikni Chameli. The audience,which had shown no signs of wearing out,sprang to their feet once again to repeat their routines. We on the other hand,exchanged one last polite smile with Sawant who blew a kiss at us,and trudged away.
