Some love stories refuse to stay quietly on the page. One such tale, Nalavenba, that Bharatanatyam dancer Mahitha Suresh has carried with her since childhood now finds its way back to the stage. Rooted in a 12th-century Tamil poetic text by Pugazhendi Pulavar, the story of King Nala and Princess Damayanti arrives with a celestial swan, poetic metre, and a romance that feels startlingly modern. For Mahitha, the pull was inevitable. “I am a fiction lover, particularly of Indian mythology and folktales. I have strong memories of reading so many such stories and comics in my growing-up years, Nala Damayanti being one of them,” she says.
Nalavenba is no stranger to her world. Conceptualised and choreographed in the ’90s by her mother and guru, Vidya Bhavani Suresh, the production has lived through fragments, central items in recitals, and parts of which Mahitha has performed before. But this season marked a turning point. “For my programme in this year’s season, I wanted to do something really different,” she explains. “Having performed some portions of Nalavenba in my earlier solo programmes, I suddenly thought, “why not try performing the story from end to end?”
Nalavenba’s distinction lies in its gentle defiance of convention. The spotlight falls first on the hero’s heart. “This is the uniqueness of the production, where the spotlight is first on the love of the hero, in total deviation from the usual narrative in Bharatanatyam, where the heroine pines for the lord,” Mahitha notes. The swan—one of Mahitha’s favourite roles—becomes Cupid, confidante, and mischief-maker here. “Depicting a non-human character is challenging, and I truly enjoyed immersing myself in the lyrical descriptions of the swan and portraying her grace, beauty, kindness, and naughty side!”
Being conceptualised almost three decades back, one may wonder if the narrative is still relevant. However, Mahitha believes the narrative was ahead of its time. “I believe this production was ahead of its time when it was conceptualised and choreographed by my guru,” she says. Today, its relevance feels even sharper. “I feel this kind of narrative that celebrates equal love from both the hero and the heroine is very much in tune with the mindset of the current generation that celebrates the empowered, modern woman.”
Her most cherished sequence remains the King’s first encounter with love, describing the slow emotional arc—from curiosity, to kindness, to surrender. When Nala hears Damayanti’s name for the first time, Mahitha imagines a world without images or immediacy. “Wouldn’t he be curious how she would look, how her voice would sound, how she may smile, how she may walk?” As the swan speaks, “Nala is besotted… He says, ‘my life, my breath is now in your hands’... I feel a sense of horripilation whenever I emote it.”
Performing Nalavenba as a full-length solo has been both demanding and deeply fulfilling for her. “I am so much in love with the story now that even though I know it by heart, every time I rehearse, I am still eager to know the ending and see the couple get married!” the dancer says.
Open to all. January 23. 6 pm. At Narada Gana Sabha, Alwarpet, Chennai.
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