When Waters Whispered Wonderingly

Devika Murthy

An impressive performance with around fifty Bharatanatyam dancers and other artists totaling a hundred, premiered on 19 January 2025 at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts in Bangalore.

Conceived and coordinated by the dynamic Roopa Prasad Doraswamy of GoBrahma Productions and largely funded by her, the event was managed by her finance, social media, liaison, and marketing team: Anjali Hariharan, Sowmya A, Sumalatha S, Lavanthi S, Ram Ganesh, Amit Verma, Raj Hansoge, Keshav Prasad, Ramya, and Sridevi Prasad.

Created and choreographed by Poornima K. Gururaja of the Kala Sindhu Academy of Dance and Related Arts along with Badari Divya Bhusan, the founder of Bhushans’ Academy of  Performing Arts and Visual Presentation, the program was supported by the Sri Venugopalakrishnaswamy Seva Samithi and the Yathiraja Mutt.

The evening was made memorable by the presence of Sri Yadugiri Yathiraja Narayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Swamy, who is currently working towards the renovation of the temple.

Whispers of the River and the Tree tells the enchanting tale of the Paschimavahini Krishna, unfolding as witnessed by the Cauvery and the banyans growing on her banks. The story goes that after marrying Gayamma, an ordinary individual, Sreenivasa Iyengar, went on travel and one day while resting under the shade of bountiful branches, he had a vision in which he was made aware about an idol of Krishna that lay buried at a particular place. The Lord conveyed to him that it was to be searched for and installed at the earliest.

Sreenivasa returned home, unearthed it, and with the help of the locals built a temple that he and his spouse took care of till their end.

It was further nurtured by Seethamma (Poornima), who after being widowed bravely broke all norms and followed her heart to serve God and the pilgrims without fearing the inevitable repercussions. She would herself go begging for alms, cook the meals and feed those who came that way.

The husband and wife duo of Badari Divya Bhushan and Anjana Bhushan enacted the roles of Sreenivasa and Gayamma, and the child and adult Krishna were essayed by their two sons Abhyuday Dhyaan Bhushan and Abhigyan Vedanth Bhushan. The younger version suspended on a colourfully bedecked swing-seat, and the grownup descending from the rafters were a sight to behold!

The river narrating her own birth and journey through the passing centuries, to the trees, who were saplings at the time but are now in their prime, is the thread that holds everything together.

The voiceovers by Mythili Anatharaman and Girish were clear, often thoughtful and at times playful, and moving.

It was a blend of spectacle, spirituality, drama, and devotion—rooted in both cause and culture, art and purpose. And beyond that, there were fire and flowers!

Jets of sparkles streaming down from the roof sent flashes of brilliance, occasional waves of smoke lent a gentle haze, while from mini-cannons burst out thousands of confetti blossoms! The costumes too were apt: shimmering white and soft blue for the waters, moss green and dark brown for the leaves and bark, and multihued silk saris for the rest with lots of ornaments!

The former were by Seetha Guruprasad and Vijay and his team, and the chorus group garments were by the Bhushans and Gautam and his team. The special effects by Popcorn Entertainment, under the guidance of Badari Bhushan, were eye-catching and drew regular applause from the audience. They were also responsible for the Stage Set and Sound and there was a magnificent design of the temple by Jyothi Bansal. Needless to say, six months of detailed planning and six weeks of rigorous practice went into bringing forth the sequences to life!

While some others were involved, the lyrics were written by Badari Divya Bhushan and his novel compositions were matched by lovely combinations of steps, with the men and women being equally graceful.

The dancers - Anupama, Aparna, Deepthi C, Deepthi N,  Linisha, Manasvini, Mekhala, Sharvari, Shraddha, Swathi, and  Bhavana, Kavya, Sandhya, Sanjana, Santhosh, Supriya, Tarini, and  Varshini, Akshatha, Bhavana, Divya, Hemasree, Jisha, Kruthi,  Vaishali, Vandya, and Ankita, Divyashree, Gopal, Naresh, Neha,  Savitha, Sirisha, Sudanvu, and Trisha.

The gurus - representing the different banis - trained under various dance styles -
Pandanallur, Vazhuvoor, Kalakshetra, Mysore, and Thanjavur  were Sheela Chandrashekhar, Radha Shridhar, Padmini Shreedhar, Veena Morab and Sanjay Shantaram, the guest performers Padmini Shreedhar, NS Shivakumar, Champaka Sunderraj and Mahesh Sagar. Visualisation and content resourcer was Rajeev Kadambi.

The photographs in the background on a giant screen completed the picture perfectly. The lighting was by Sai Venkatesh, the Music Engineering and various Recordings were by Omkar Studios & Ananya Studios.

The vocals by Abhishek, Medha, Harini and Sridhar and the veena by Gopal added depth. The flute by Raghunanandan was prominent, and they were ably accompanied on the mridangam by G. Gurumurthy, on the rhythm pad by Karthik Vydhatri and the nagaswaram was by Prabhavati and Palanivel.

The Goshti chanting by a dozen singers, Andal Sriram, Geetha Narayanan, U. Ve. Narayanan K.S., U. Ve. Suresh, Jamuna Maami, Nanda Kumar M.R., M.R. Venu, Nethra Sreeprasad, Geetha Vasuki, Seetha Lakshmi and Lakshmi H.S. was stirring.

A percentage of all proceeds from the program was donated to the temple. Worship everywhere, and certainly in our ancient land, reflects wisdom and traditions, while change and modernity are unstoppable, but they can evolve into progress that is both beautiful and meaningful.

(The author is a freelance creative writer with a Master’s Degree in Literature from the U.K. She has launched her website readwriteon.wordpress.com )