To the unknown sculptor

They are dancers of different schools and styles. Most of them having seen many a season but dancing still. And they all came together da...

They are dancers of different schools and styles. Most of them having seen many a season but dancing still. And they all came together dance in front of the camera with the Khajuraho temples in the backdrop. Dance of the Temples, a 45-minute video film aptly dedicated to the unknown sculptor, was Kathak dancer Shovana Narayan8217;s brainchild. She discussed it with friends and in a brief span of two months since the idea first germinated, the film was ready to go on the air.

It brought together dancers Bharati Shivajimohiniattam, Pratibha Prahladbharatnatyam, Sharon Lowenodissi, Guru Sighjit and Charu besides, of course, Shovana and her two students: Madhura and Anupama. It also brought together film makers M.S. Sathyu and Shahjahan, television star Sadhna Srivastava, music director Jwala Prasad and Sohel Chawla only too willing to play producer to this motley team. 8220;The choice of the dancers was dictated friendship and availability.

8220;The concept,8221; says Chawla, 8220;was to demonstrate that the lyrical and sensuous sculpture of Khajuraho was inspired by the dance form and to expound that a millennium later, the classical and folk dance form has not only retained but further evolved the lyrical and the sensuous.8221; In that a fine effort but what jarred at times was that the ageing dancers included in the film were not in the best of shapes and the camera seemed to be harsh in revealing what it should have concealed. Shovana8217;s portions were filmed the best for here8217;s a dancer who has grown more fit with the years so to say. The brief interlude by Shovana8217;s two students brought out more poetry for theirs is the freshness of youth. Bharati Shivaji8217;s movements were fluid but she deserved a better deal from the camera.

Another thing a lacking was that the sculptures for which Khajuraho is famed were not used effectively. This was sad because the film was dedicated after all to the unknown sculptor and ended on a poetic note with the lines of Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan: Khajuraho ke nidar kaladhar; Amarshila mein gaan tumhara.