This storytelling performance on Hanuman by Vinay Varanasi hopes to make the timeless tale of the hero appealing to all age groups...

Vinay Varanasi has his own fan following in Bengaluru and for good reason too. We last wrote about him when he performed Chidambara Rahasya that was a super hit with audiences and was the talk of town for a while. The storyteller, narrator, performer — call him what you may — is back this weekend, with a brand new spoken performance — Sundara Hanuman — a two-part performance that will feature narratives on Sundara Kanda and Rama Pattabhishekam, woven and presented, of course, with Hanuman in focus. We catch up with Vinay before the show to  bring you a preview of what you can expect.

Tell us about your latest production?

The new production is titled Sundara Hanuman. This effectively pays homage to the beauty of Hanuman’s character and the way in which we are doing this is, is that we’ve taken inspiration from over nine versions of the Ramayana. Moving from the classic Valmiki Ramayana to Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas, to regional ramayanas — the character of Hanuman evokes different emotions and also embodies different qualities. We wanted to bring that into the focus.  

Hanuman is often looked at as half-human or super-human, so will you be helping audiences discover his inherent humanity?

When you look at Hanuman on one hand there is the display of his strength, of his valour and of his super-humaneness — if one can call it that. But there is the beautiful quality of his humility. There are also his beautiful qualities of surrender, of devotion, of appropriateness of speech, of knowing how much to speak when and where; and those characters make him extremely human. I do hope to help the audience recognise that. The fact that when he jumps across the ocean, reaches Lanka and he searches through the entire city and is not able to find Sita easily — he goes through a wave of strong emotions. He experiences dejection. He even contemplates suicide. Those aspects of how he navigates through those tough moments within his mind, those moments are powerful! Those are what make him extremely human and those are what make him extremely connectable to for every single spiritual seeker. I think that’s what we’re trying to focus on also — bringing out the beauty of his authenticity — of his raw beautiful emotions.

Who are you collaborating with for Sundara Hanuman?

We’re bringing together a very interesting group of people for this. We’re going to be collaborating with The Lathangi Sisters — Archana and Samanvi; while Adamya Ramanand will be playing the mridangam and Janardhan Srinath will be playing the violin. We’re also collaborating with Chandana Priya and Upasana Govindarajan, but I’d like to keep that element as a surprise — you’ll have to come to the performance to see how they come into this beautiful production. I also want to highlight how a core pillar of the whole production — while on one hand is about the beauty of diversity in various narratives of the Ramayana — is about seamlessly bringing together art forms, which I’m doing in collaboration with the well-known artiste Keerthikumar — who’s a dancer himself, a music composer and also a lighting designer. He’s doing the artistic direction of the show, while the conception and curation is mine.

What do you hope people will take away from this production?

It’s a labour of love that I’ve been working on for months now. What I’m hoping people will take away from this is a renewed sense of belief in their own journeys and also the idea that ups and downs are part of the journey; but faith, perseverance, dedication, discipline and ultimately surrender go a long way in making that journey meaningful irrespective of the ups and downs. I think, that’s what will come out of this experience and also — how does one appreciate the Hanuman within us, how does one see and recognise this Hanuman within us. I hope people are able to see that, because I want them to be able to take Hanuman out of a book and into their own lives and find the Hanuman in their journeys and find themselves to be those Hanumans. I think, this production is something that brings together so many different elements and I hope it will appeal to different age groups.

INR 300 onwards. July 14, 5 pm to 8 pm. At Ravindra Kalakshetra.

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