Its been thirty years since that fateful evening... and i still remember it like yesterday.. I know now that i was just a tool in the hands of fate playing out a carefully scripted part. As for today read how I feel at :
http://kon-tiki.blogspot.com/2009/05/mmatya-chronicles.html
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Surya Ki's music
When our director said she wants Hindustani Classical Music to portray emotions of 'Surya ki', I knew I had got myself into a herculean task. Surya Ki is intense. And this is a simplistic description of the play. Surendra Vermaji, the playwright, has amazed us by weaving layers of emotions into the script. It was evident, for music to bring out these emotions, only Raagas could do the magic. But the question was which ones?
Raagas are many. Each Raaga is time bound and has a mood; it evokes the mood best, when sung at the allotted time. Surya Ki progresses from Surya ki antim kiran (in music timings: din ka antim prahar) to Surya ki pehli kiran (din ka pratham prahar) so we did not need to consider Raagas sung in the other prahar of the day! While it seemed the search list was reduced by half, the long list of night Raagas explained why most music concerts happen in the evening or night!
Raagas are generally differentiated into three types - chanchal, shaant and gambhir. Surya Ki is deep and intense and it intuitively seems that gambhir Raagas would be the choice to make. However, Surya Ki's varied emotions should not be restricted to one type. There are moments of varied intensity in the play such as Okkak's agony or Sheelvati's light romantic moments with Pratosh.
So, the search continued. The play has three distinct emotions as they progress in the night - agony, romance and unfulfilled bliss. For agony there could be Malkauns with sadness, Shankara which has the quality of anger or Darbari - a deep, grave midnight Raaga. Romance could be Brindavani Sarang with joy, Bageshree and Sohni with longing, Darbari with erogenous feel, Chayanat or Jai Jaiwanti with fulfillment or Rageshree with celebration. Unfulfilled bliss in the morning could be Deskar, Vibhas, Bhairav or Lalit in their increasing levels of intensity, and ranging from being happy and thoughtful to being pensive. The best part of Hindustani Classical Music is that Raagas can overlap different emotions.
The play opens with Raaga Puriya Dhanashree, an evening passionate Raaga. It has anger as well as compassion set in it. This built in discomfort of varied emotions is brought by the combination of komal Rishabh, teevra Madhyam, komal Dhaivat and shuddha Nishad. The other choices of Raagas have been based on those belonging to the same (or similar) Thaats. (Thaat is the classification of Raaga. Various Raagas in one Thaat seem to belong to one family as they have similar notes (swar). Their sounds have similarity to certain extent, though their emotions may vary.)
So much for Surya Ki's music journey. Come with an ear to discover various moods of the play!
(Decision making involved brainstorming with Sharvari, Abhishek, Vinita, my music teacher in India, Lalita (our tabla player) and her friend, Harshada, as well as all dancers - Archana, Dhara, Juhi, Mahncy and Sowmya).
Raagas are many. Each Raaga is time bound and has a mood; it evokes the mood best, when sung at the allotted time. Surya Ki progresses from Surya ki antim kiran (in music timings: din ka antim prahar) to Surya ki pehli kiran (din ka pratham prahar) so we did not need to consider Raagas sung in the other prahar of the day! While it seemed the search list was reduced by half, the long list of night Raagas explained why most music concerts happen in the evening or night!
Raagas are generally differentiated into three types - chanchal, shaant and gambhir. Surya Ki is deep and intense and it intuitively seems that gambhir Raagas would be the choice to make. However, Surya Ki's varied emotions should not be restricted to one type. There are moments of varied intensity in the play such as Okkak's agony or Sheelvati's light romantic moments with Pratosh.
So, the search continued. The play has three distinct emotions as they progress in the night - agony, romance and unfulfilled bliss. For agony there could be Malkauns with sadness, Shankara which has the quality of anger or Darbari - a deep, grave midnight Raaga. Romance could be Brindavani Sarang with joy, Bageshree and Sohni with longing, Darbari with erogenous feel, Chayanat or Jai Jaiwanti with fulfillment or Rageshree with celebration. Unfulfilled bliss in the morning could be Deskar, Vibhas, Bhairav or Lalit in their increasing levels of intensity, and ranging from being happy and thoughtful to being pensive. The best part of Hindustani Classical Music is that Raagas can overlap different emotions.
The play opens with Raaga Puriya Dhanashree, an evening passionate Raaga. It has anger as well as compassion set in it. This built in discomfort of varied emotions is brought by the combination of komal Rishabh, teevra Madhyam, komal Dhaivat and shuddha Nishad. The other choices of Raagas have been based on those belonging to the same (or similar) Thaats. (Thaat is the classification of Raaga. Various Raagas in one Thaat seem to belong to one family as they have similar notes (swar). Their sounds have similarity to certain extent, though their emotions may vary.)
So much for Surya Ki's music journey. Come with an ear to discover various moods of the play!
(Decision making involved brainstorming with Sharvari, Abhishek, Vinita, my music teacher in India, Lalita (our tabla player) and her friend, Harshada, as well as all dancers - Archana, Dhara, Juhi, Mahncy and Sowmya).
Friday, May 22, 2009
Natya Shringar
Designing beards, hairpieces, prosthetics, face sculpting...all the excitement lies in “correcting the perfect face”. What do we mean???
We are “correcting to the perfect face”That would be making the face oval, round,elongated, removing and adding a couple of lines, eyes in almond shape, bright eyes, quiet eyes, projecting edge of the brow, coral lips, coarse lips, and sticking beard and mustache to our clean shaved actors (We assure you ..they look very handsome)
I thought make-up is easy - applying foundation, strokes of colors, eye-pencil, lip color and making hair white. On the job, I realized its not the same as applying make-up to a friend. The play plot, the actors and the face – all combined and set to emote the audience. Nitya's knowledge and experiences, the techniques, is helping us to create a character or make corrections. To transform Navjyoti as Mahamatya, Harish as Pratosh…. demands experience. Keerthi is making corrections to Rajiv's handsome face to sculpt the king Okkak and his dilemma and Sunder as the Warrior General. Nitya will create stereotypical submissive queen into a bold woman Sheelvati of the 20th century who accepts her sexuality and blatantly copes with it outside the marital relations.
Here is the expected age the actors should look on stage …...is it challenging???
Sheelvati (early 30s)
Okkak (later 30s)
Pratosh (later 30s)
Mahamatya (in 60s)
Raj Purohit (late 50s)
Mahabaladhikrit (late 50s)
Mahattarika (early 30s)
Pratihari (early 20s)
Finding the perfect foundation, color lighters, mustache, lip color....on our task list now..an arduous task for someone who has never bought make up for anyone else!!! Will keep you guys posted on our accomplishments..interested??? join us for the next make up session.
We are “correcting to the perfect face”That would be making the face oval, round,elongated, removing and adding a couple of lines, eyes in almond shape, bright eyes, quiet eyes, projecting edge of the brow, coral lips, coarse lips, and sticking beard and mustache to our clean shaved actors (We assure you ..they look very handsome)
I thought make-up is easy - applying foundation, strokes of colors, eye-pencil, lip color and making hair white. On the job, I realized its not the same as applying make-up to a friend. The play plot, the actors and the face – all combined and set to emote the audience. Nitya's knowledge and experiences, the techniques, is helping us to create a character or make corrections. To transform Navjyoti as Mahamatya, Harish as Pratosh…. demands experience. Keerthi is making corrections to Rajiv's handsome face to sculpt the king Okkak and his dilemma and Sunder as the Warrior General. Nitya will create stereotypical submissive queen into a bold woman Sheelvati of the 20th century who accepts her sexuality and blatantly copes with it outside the marital relations.
Here is the expected age the actors should look on stage …...is it challenging???
Sheelvati (early 30s)
Okkak (later 30s)
Pratosh (later 30s)
Mahamatya (in 60s)
Raj Purohit (late 50s)
Mahabaladhikrit (late 50s)
Mahattarika (early 30s)
Pratihari (early 20s)
Finding the perfect foundation, color lighters, mustache, lip color....on our task list now..an arduous task for someone who has never bought make up for anyone else!!! Will keep you guys posted on our accomplishments..interested??? join us for the next make up session.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Surya Ki... Sets Production - Pillars Montage
Alternate Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcG-h71gtvc
Download in High Quality: http://rapidshare.com/files/235468632/suryaki2.divx
Feeling judgmental...?
What I didnt tell you are the hazards of being in production. We adhere to certain guidelines and safety regulations. Still, you can hear shouts of "splinter", "blood", "cut" or "nail" or "screw" occasionally.
Are we having fun? Yes. But, dont judge us too soon.
You might ask the question - During this period, did we even think of the actors even once? Let me assure you that we think of the actors not once, but always! Yes, you read that right "always". When we design and construct set pieces - actors' safety is of foremost importance to us. Their physical safety and physical capabilities are factored into our equations. Their mental safety and acting capabilities? - I'll let the Captain Director address that question or judge for yourself by watching our show.
Are we having fun? Yes. But, dont judge us too soon.
You might ask the question - During this period, did we even think of the actors even once? Let me assure you that we think of the actors not once, but always! Yes, you read that right "always". When we design and construct set pieces - actors' safety is of foremost importance to us. Their physical safety and physical capabilities are factored into our equations. Their mental safety and acting capabilities? - I'll let the Captain Director address that question or judge for yourself by watching our show.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Surya Ki... Sets Production - Stairs Montage
Alternate link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoKs-1tViBI
Download High Quality: http://rapidshare.com/files/234796547/SuryaKi1.divx
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