Delightful Bharatanatyam by Sanjana Prasad

August 15, 2015

Sanjana Prasad, a senior disciple of Meenakshi Chittaranjan delighted the audience with her scintillating recital at Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall, Chennai, under the auspices of Kartik Fine Arts on 13th August 2015.

Commencing the recital with an alarippu in mishra chapu in ragam Vasantha, Sanjana went on to perform the varnam, piece de resistance of the recital in raga Kamas, Saamiyai azhaithodi vaa of the Tanjore Quartet. Sanjana’s araimandi, anga sudham and adavu sudham came to the forefront throughout the recital, the Pandanallur bani transparent at every stage. The jathis were very neatly executed with absolute precision and her nrithya for the sanchaari in the varnam Pittukku mann sumandha of Lord Shiva won the appreciation of the audience. The charanam commencing with the lines Vaa vaa enn mozhi ketka vaa were beautifully portrayed with her nritta and nrithya vying with each other.

The post-interval session included Netrandhi nerathile in ragam Huseni, where the heroine questions Muruga as to who was the girl on the river side making signs to the Lord to come to her and ultimately requests Muruga to come to her instead, leaving aside the other girl. She also reminisces on her lovely memorable evenings with Muruga and pines for him. The next padham was Thottu thottu pesa varaan of Periasami Thooran in ragam Behag, where the artist splendidly portrayed the pranks of little Krishna and complains ivan thudukkuthanathai adakuvar illai. Sanjana was at her best in the abhinaya for this piece. 

The recital concluded with a Sankarabaranam thillana which was a fitting finale. Guru Meenakshi Chittaranjan wielded the cymbals with the lilting music of Radha  Badri. The percussion support of Anil Kumar and violin by B. Ananthakrishnan along with Radha Badri’s vocal and the guru’s nattuvangam lifted the performance to sublime heights.

Sanjana Prasad is a great asset to Meenakshi and if she keeps up this trend, she will go places.