Well executed mythical tale at T-Temple Fest

Prabhavati, a dance staged at the Telangana Temple Festival, is a concept of Dr Srinagi who wishes to have a regular series of dances in temples. This initiative had a lovely ballet staged by renowned Rukmini Vijaykumar and her team from Bengaluru at NBanyan, Madhapur, on Saturday. Raadha Kalpa Productions presented Prabhavati, Story of an Asura Princess.

This story is based on ‘The Demons Daughter’ by Telugu author Pingali Suranna written during the sixteenth century. The demon Vajranabha, made invulnerable to the Gods due to his friendship with Brahma, waxes arrogance and had to be destroyed. The demon had a daughter Prabhavati who is very beautiful. The character was depicted by Rukmini Vijaykumar with exquisite grace.

She is shown turning down suitors due to her fondness for Krishna's son Pradyumna with whom she had fallen in love without ever having seen him. Indra and Krishna conspired to bring Pradyumna and Prabhavati together and sent the celestial swans to speak about each one of them to the other. Pradyumna enters the demon’s kingdom by a ruse and meets his beloved.

The demons played by the dancers with grotesque masks fight with Pradyumna in a stirring scene where the male dancers Ajeesh, Ram Kumar and Sumesh showed their mastery of Kalari in a spectacular manner. Their defeat and the delightful union of the hero and heroine culminates the dance drama. The lyrics in Telugu with English commentary is narrated by Dr Ganesh.

Music has been scored by T Srinivas and the riveting light effects which made the production visually stunning was handled by Arun Murthy. The costumes were very fetching in pastel shades designed elegantly by Rukmini who is also the scriptwriter, choreographer and director. Sneha, Matangi, Vanitha and Preethi were among the performers. --

By:Anna Rao Gangavalli