CHENNAI: Nearly five years after the success of Maya Ravan, the musical, danseuse Shobana returns to the stage with her next production, Krishna. With eight months of preparation, the musical is her way of understanding why Krishna has always been such a big icon. “I haven’t done much work on Krishna and wanted to understand him. Thus the musical, is a way for me to experiment. It gives us limitless possibilities and there is immense scope when it comes to using Krishna as the subject,” explains Shobana.“I am a choreographer first and then a writer. So it took me a while to analyse the characters and choreograph steps to suit the performer playing a particular role.” The musical will be a combination of various forms of performing arts, including classical, folk and even Bollywood dances.“There are no rules when it comes to Krishna. Since Bollywood dancing is such a rage, I thought I’ll experiment,” she smiles.Even though Shobana had the liberty of using versatile dances forms, she had to ensure that she picked the right combinations of scenes and dance. “For instance, when it comes to depicting Krishna Leela in the Brindavan, folk is the best,” she adds.The two-hour musical will be performed by Shobana and the students from her dancing school, Kalarpana.They will collaborate Krishna’s birth, his leelas and gopikas, Kaalinga Narthanam, Kamsa Vadham and Rukmini Kalyanam, his role in the Mahabharatha and Geetha Upadesham, among other important aspects of his life.The all-girls ensemble, with Shobana playing the lead as Krishna, will also include an eight-year-old Krishna.With dialogues in English, there will be eight songs in all, including classical Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam songs. Another surprise element in this production is that many popular Bollywood artistes have also lent their voices to some of the characters.Shabana Azmi has lent voice for Gandhari, Konkona Sen for Radha, Nandita Das for Draupadi, Prabhu for Bheeman, Radhika for Devaki and Milind Soman for Duryodhan.Suriya has given voice over for Krishna. “As an artiste, I believe this is a change for them as well, where though you wouldn’t see them on stage but you can hear their voices. There is a difference between dubbing in films and lending your voice in a musical,” says Shobana.Rajeevan, the father of one of her students, took charge of the art design.Sound design for the production is done by Resul Pookutty. With help from all directions, Shobana and her team wanted to complete production much earlier, but owing to various constraints such as time, space and costs, they had to slow down. With projections, scenic backdrops and sponsorship from The Gem Grove, we can expect Krishna to be a grand affair.So what after Krishna? “I don’t know. Every time I come up with a production, I keep saying that it is my last one. I am not doing films as of now because I am predominantly occupied with Kalarpana,” she adds.Tickets for Krishna, the musical, on August 22 have already been sold out, but they’re still available for August 23. Contact Kalarpana, No 15, Sriman Srinivasan Road, Alwarpet, Landmark – Nungambakkam, Fashion Folks – Adyar, Nuts and Spices – Velachery, Anna Nagar and Kilpauk, Lakshman Sruthi – Vadapalani. Also, visit www.bookmyshow.com to book tickets. For details, call 9282401135.
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