Surgeon trains sight on Kuchipudi

PUNE, Oct 4: Well-known ophthalmologist Sudha Kankaria plans to attempt a rare feat a dawn to dusk 12-hour Nrutya Aaradhana, performance ...

PUNE, Oct 4: Well-known ophthalmologist Sudha Kankaria plans to attempt a rare feat a dawn to dusk 12-hour Nrutya Aaradhana, performance of Kuchipudi dance on Saturday in Ahmednagar.

This is not an attempt to create any kind of a world record, Dr Kankaria told The Indian Express. She terms it as a “prayer from the heart” deriving inspiration from her guru, Pandit Krishnaswamy. Another aim is to popularise the dance form in Maharashtra, she says. According to experts, the specialty of Kuchipudi is to express the emotional content through body language and facial mudras instead of using objects or replicas elaborating the theme of the dance, specifically, she explains.

Her endeavour titled “Sun Rise to Sun Set” will commence around 6.25 a.m. on Saturday with Agnihotra, a vedic ritual and lighting of the lamp. This will be followed by the Omkar nritya, Shri Balaji suprabhat, Natraj vandan, guru vandan and sabha vandan. The traditional Ganesh stuti will be followed by the Natesh kautukam.

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The tarangam and Balkrushna dances will be performed using a flat copper plate, a kalash and a deep. The entire programme consists of 60 dance items including the Mahishasur Mardini, Durga stuti and Sarva dev stuti. The longest performance by Dr Kankaria so far was of three hours. But she is pretty confident of performing for twelve consecutive hours. “I have been practising for six hours everyday for about three months,” she says revealing that her training in yoga would prove useful.

Film Star-turned-Rajya Sabha member Jayaprada has agreed to attend to performance, and honour Dr Sudha with the Ntrutya Tilak award on behalf of the Bharatiya Nritya partishthan of Tirupati, Dr Prakash Kankaria said. The Hyderabad-based Telugu University would also present the tamrapatra, copper plaque, to Dr Sudha for her maiden performance. A leading ophthalmologist Dr Sudha has had her formal training in Bharat Natyam in her childhood. It was a chance meeting Pt Krishna Swamy, who had been in Ahmednagar during his excursion to propogate the Kuchipudi style in Maharashtra.

Watching her performance, Pt Krishna Swamy who has trained hundreds of girls in the Kuchipudi style, saw a hope in his dream project of 12-hour Nritya Aaradhana coming true when Dr Kankaria gave her consent for the performance. A strict disciplinarian, Dr Sudha who keeps herself fit with yoga and meditation, said she has already had one trial run of the nritya aradhana last week and would undertake another one on Wednesday before the event, which could go into the record books. Watching her performance would be former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Dr P L Sanjeeva Raddy, registrar of Telugu University Prof C Ramaniah and guru Krishna Kumar of Bharatiya Nrituya Sanstha in Hyderabad.