Ramayana.... Ravana style- Mayaravan

Actions speak louder than words, whoever said it missed it a few more adjectives there, Actions can be clearer, more imaginative and creative than words (Maybe all these adjectives were to be packed up in “louder” when he spake). Shobhana’s Mayaravan, a 2 hour dance musical is just about everything an Indian could crave for artistically and at the same time find entertaining. It just enlarges the canvas which classical dance performances have been restricted to. Some of the well known names of the film industry have lent their voices to the characters, probably, an attempt to make sure that the audience knows what’s happening in the scenes (have we grown so dumb? Anyways, hearing Naseeruddin Shah, Mohan Lal, and Revathy is a treat any day). Then of course, the music is splendid. It’s a mix of various works including ARR’s too. Most of the time, the music is fast paced, so it keeps you hooked throughout. Finally, the choreography is the pick of course. Shobhana is credited with this department and I must say that I have never seen such a great rendition which mixes Bharathnatyam and some other Indian dance forms along with Bollywoodish dances. The formations, the dance steps gel superbly well with the narrative. It must have been a terrifically difficult task to piece all of it together because it caters to an audience which lies somewhere between the orthodox dance lovers and the mindless Bollywood type audience. That’s why I say that it plays well for the commercial front too while at the same time keeping the art lovers happy.

Mayaravan is a rendition of Ramayana from Ravana’s viewpoint. It starts out with Ravan getting his name because of his unusual scream. It then goes on to tell Rama’s story and how Ravan shuttles in and out of it. We have seen and heard of Ramayana from the good guy’s angle, I mean Rama, Sita, Hanuman and some more. It’s a different angle when Ravan decides to tell it in his way. So, there must be something special about it. That specialty is Shobhana. Yes, if this was a staid good and bad war story as it always has been, probably, it would have been good but not great.

Shobhana brings a totally different dimension to Ravan. Shobhana’s Ravan is extremely clever, intelligent. He just toys around with other characters as though they are merely toys. He is mischievous and completely nonchalant to fear. It’s fresh and captivating because I have really grown tired of seeing the poor Ravan in the various avatars of Ramayana in television. The poor guy always has the same set of expressions- he laughs (remember Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana), he gets angry (poor guy the actor must have got high on his BP during the shoot), he munches out heavy dialogues and this goes on in a loop. So, it was really refreshing to see the varied expressions which Shobhana had for Ravan.

Another captivating feature was the kids who were part of the production. They do some small roles especially that of the vanaras and they do it wonderfully well. It was really stunning to see those hardly 8-10 year olds perform some really graceful steps (frankly, I felt quite shameful. Probably, I will also ask for a vanara role in the next production. I really do that role well, it just comes naturally you know).

The voices are equally good and lift up the level of the whole performance. Naseeruddin Shah gives his voice for Ravan. With Ravan being an intelligent criminal here, he gives that mischievous touch to the whole narrative and it works perfectly well Shobhana’s expressions. Another voice which stays on is Mohan Lal’s as Hanuman. He again gives a playful touch to the character and enlivens up the show with some humor. Milind Soman, Revathy, Suhasini, Jackie Shroff are others whose voices we hear.

So then to sum it all, amazing sets, amazing performances, amazing choreography, amazing music, amazing costumes and make up, amazing Shobhana, Amazing voices and all of this can amaze an amazing evening of yours.