HIMANSHU GURU, OP
At a time when the Oriya film and album industries have been assailed with the charge of plagiarism and of being utterly unoriginal, the creative endeavour of a group of talented artistes stands out. Their effort is all the more laudable as it strives to achieve a rare cultural revival and assimilation…
Although the Oriya film industry has witnessed fast-paced technical development over the years, there has been a lot of heated debate on the content of films and music albums. While most films are subject to criticism for being copies of South Indian movies, often even original content goes unappreciated due to the total absence of culturally rich elements that are the basic ingredients of works of art. At such a time, the innovative approach of a handful of enthusiasts deserves special appreciation.
Prateek Patnaik, a Plus III student, has discovered original ancient lyrics, which are believed to be from the 14th century. Pallavi Das, an Odissi dance connoisseur and granddaughter of the Odissi legend Guru Pankaj Charan Das, has choreographed the songs. Out of the researched lyrics of Prateek, two solo music videos have been released and two more are in the pipeline. It is believed that these songs are undoubtedly a precious addition to the archives of the best and original Oriya videos. Sunday POST speaks to the young researcher and his creative crew about the series of albums and their essence.
“The lyrics of ‘Krishna’, the first album from the series, has its origin in the legendary writer Kabisurya Baladev Rath’s ‘Kishori Chandranana Champu’. The great Oriya literary work is an anthology of individual ‘champus’ from the Oriya letters ‘Ka’ to ‘Kshya’. The lyrics, that have been filmed in ‘Krishna’, are based on ‘Ka’, the first Oriya consonant,” says Prateek.
Many of the youngster’s research works are available online. He says that of his 242 works about 100 are available on the internet. His works are so informative that a legend like Devdutt Pattanaik was pleased to add him in his team as a research scholar. “In simple language, a typical and unusual form of words which is partly prosaic and partly poetic is called ‘champu’. In the Oriya Champu composition, a song is written for every letter of the alphabet, and every stanza in the song starts with the same letter of the alphabet. Thus, tremendous literary expertise is required for every single composition,” says Prateek.
About the other songs in the series, the youngster says: “The second video titled ‘Na Jani Mu’ is a ‘chaupadi’, an anthology written by Dinabandhuraj Harichandan, a lesser known writer of the 17th century from Puri. Musical reconstruction has been made in the composition keeping in view the erstwhile colloquial style. Another song, that is yet to release is ‘De Karatali’ which was written by Gouracharan Adhikari who has also written the famous Jagannath bhajan ‘Nilachakre ho dekha Uduchi bana’. The song ‘Maa Go Kamale’ is by Nilamani Mishra. It has been composed as per the prescriptions of the poetic grammar provided in the famous ‘Dekha Go Radha Madhava’ song. After deep research I got these songs from the old books or palm leaf inscriptions.”
Well-known Odissi dancer Guru Pallavi Das, who had earlier released ‘Ahe Nila Saila’, is the choreographer of all the songs. She says: “Choreography of the released solo ‘Krishna’ is based on Odissi and we have tried to incorporate a number of Odissi steps including ‘chauka’ and ‘tribhanga’. The composition showcases the ‘rasa’ of Radha and Krishna. Sushil Dalei has arranged the music and Sangeet Mahavidyalaya passout Khitiprakash Mohapatra has lent voice to the song. It was shot at Jayadev Vatika where the artistes appeared in traditional Odissi costumes.”
“The second song, which released a few days back, is ‘Na Jani Mu’ which dwells upon the interaction of a wife and her hubby. Hara Ratha and Sonam Lenka are the main characters in the video where the reactions of a wife have been portrayed. The dance drama exudes a modern punch,” Pallavi adds.
“The upcoming album, ‘De Karatali’, comprises a festive song. I will dance along with Subhashree Rout and 10 other artistes. The choreography will be a mix of classical and semi-classical steps. Another upcoming number, ‘Maa Go Kamale’, describing Goddess Durga will be composed using pure Odissi steps,” the dance exponent says about the upcoming projects.
Debabrata Pattnaik, the main actor and director of the video, says: “This is my first music video as an independent director. I have acted in the main role and directed it. So, though it was tough to execute, still I did not want to miss the chance. On the location, we had multiple shifting of the camera to get a versatile background.”
Rose Lakra, who assisted the choreographer and featured in the first video ‘Krishna’, is doing her post graduation in Odissi from Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in Bhubaneswar. Narrating her shooting experience, she says: “The day was too hot but that did not deter the artistes. Again, the location was full of small boulders and we danced on them.”
Truptimayee Dhalasamanta, another dancer who featured in ‘Krishna’, says: “I felt shooting was very tiresome compared to dancing on stage. It was also time consuming. We shot during the scorching month of May and finished about 40 bottles of mineral water and almost emptied the whole stock of all the nearby small shops.”
