Indian Bharatanatyam dancer Savitha Sastry on dance film 'Colors: White' & more

Indian Bharatanatyam dancer Savitha Sastry along with husband AK Srikanth recently released a short dance film ‘Colors: White’ that premiered on YouTube as part of a trilogy series. Named after the colours of the Indian National Flag -- Green, White and Saffron -- the second part of the trilogy features the Bharatanatyam exponent extensively as she uses dance as a form of narrative.

In a chat with WION, the classical dancer cum choreographer spoke about her passion for dance and using it to tell different stories based on novels written incidentally by partner AK Srikanth.

Thematic Interpretation of ‘Colors: White’

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“Colors White is a part of a trilogy of which White and Green have been released and Saffron is the next project. Colors’ refers to the three colours of our national flag. The question my partner and author wanted to ask was about the ideals that our forefathers conceptualised for each color. For instance green was chosen for representing prosperity. He chose to examine prosperity from the perspective of ‘Is it equal between the males and the females of this country?’ and not in terms of the bank balance but in terms of the mind, the freedom of choice. So each of these values we are taking up and juxtaposing between the males and females of this country,” said Savitha explaining the thought behind the trilogy.

She added, “Colors White examines truth and peace and it is my belief that you can achieve peace, when you are able to come face-to-face with your own truth. So how do you get there? Most of us and especially women, live inside a box. In the case of Colors White's protagonist, that box could be that of traditional dance. It can be whatever role the society expects you to play. When I learned classical Bharatanatyam, I was expected to confirm to a set piece presentation that spoke of mythology, of Gods, and was made to be sacrosanct. I soon realised that performing dance in traditional style was not something that resonated with me.”

She explained, “Colors White traces what happens when that box becomes suffocating. That breaking away landing at a place where we are making dance films, did not happen overnight. It’s become a reality after years of struggle, emotionally and financially.”

She describes Colors: White as “a poetry of a film and is written to be a real film.” Savitha believes there is an allegory of Gandhari, the Queen mother from Mahabharat who blindfolds herself as a sacrifice for husband Dhritrashtra who is visually impaired. The allegory is of society heaping praises on Gandhari for giving up on vision and sacrificing for husband. In this dance film, the protagonist removes the manifested blindfold.

Are Traditional Dance Forms Sacrosanct?

“The question here is when does it change from Bharatanatyam to something else?” asks Savitha in reply to whether traditional dance forms are sacrosanct. She added, “I have preserved the form, structure, movement but have added what those movements are used to convey in my take. Originally, they were used to tell stories of mythology, of gods and goddesses with a set style of presentation. What I have done is take it out of the context of religion. Now I am using it as a medium to tell new stories.”

It took an effort to break the mould but Savitha did it anyhow.

International Recognition

‘Colors: White’ has travelled to various film awards.

Savitha believes that the recognition has been “most revealing” to her in how “transparent and how deep our Indian artforms are.” ‘Colors: White has travelled to many countries in the world including Germany, Paris, UK, America among many others.

The dance exponent said, “In various countries of the world, Colors White was being looked at from the perspective of storytelling. It supports my conviction that Bharatanatyam is a storytelling medium and surpasses other dance forms that are now taking over in India like the Latin Dance and Hip Hop -- as the Indian dance has much more depth.”

On how to lure the youngsters to the traditional dance forms of India vs the contemporary forms that are easier to pick up because of pop culture influence, she said, “It is my vision to make Bharatanatyam mainstream and the next generation plays an important role in that. I feel we are not just competing with other dance forms but streamers like Netflix, Amazon or mobile phones for that matter.I feel, we must start with goingdigital and finding a way of using the technology to connect with the younger lot. It has to be entertaining enough for them to pick it.”