The many arts of storytelling

Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO) organised a talk on ‘The Art of Storytelling’ here at Hyderabad today. Speaking at the program, Actress and acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar said that the stories that we hear in our mother’s / grandmother’s lap are the most memorable ones. Women create a lot of stories throughout their lives. 

Stories build personalities and character. A lot of things children learn when growing up is through stories. Everything in our culture is told through stories. Stories are said in different art forms in different ways. In dance, the only thing that propels us is emotion. Compared to theatre / dance, where there is stage, sets, costumes, etc. in dance there is no change of clothes, set, the dancer is even not allowed to speak. Everything is said through your emotions and the body.
“In Indian classical dances especially Bharatanatyam, the expression of emotions through the face is predominant whereas in western dances expression is through the body,” she added. Rukmini showcased bits of both Bharatanatyam and western ballet dance much to the delight of the audience.

Rana Daggubati on the other hands said that film is the only successful commercial art form. Talking about the movie ‘Baahubali’, Rana said that the movie changed how we look at movies and how we make movies. Baahubali was very Indian in craft, in storytelling, etc. which resonated with the audience. There are now movies being made such as Hiranyakashipu, Raja Marthanda, Rani Jhansi, etc. So many people are coming forward to tell stories now. “We all try to capture moments in time, but time it temporary, films and stories are forever,” he said. 

Rana spoke about how he started out in the film industry with special effects. Speaking about the evolution of the cinema, Rana said that earlier when Kings rules they encouraged arts, it all changed when the Lumiere brothers who discovered cinema which was basically screening moving images on a screen. Cinema brought together all different art forms. 

With different technologies, we are trying to bring back the culture and stories of India to the screen. There are so many different ways of telling stories. We are telling stories through different mediums such as film, web and television. Now we have 3D, VR (Virtual Reality) and Augmented Reality (AR). I am working closely with VR technology, Rana said.Answering a question from the audience on what the title will be, if he had to tell his story someday, Rana replied that the title will be ‘Storyteller’. 

Earlier, Ms. Sandhya Raju, Chairperson of YFLO, Hyderabad Chapter welcoming the gathering said that FICCI Ladies Organisation is all about women’s empowerment. “We want to empower our members through learning and knowledge. That is why we have organized this talk for the benefit of our members. We want to show how one can create and influence change through the art of storytelling,” she shared.