Nishumbita’s Naachni was low on intensity

Plot: Written by noted playwright and director Bhanu Bharti, Naachni is the story of a folk dancer Kisuki Bai. Chronicling the dancer’s life from her childhood to adult years, the monologue highlights the male chauvinism that prevailed in India of 1940s and 50s’. The story begins with Kisuki Bai having a dialogue with her imaginary daughter, narrating how she became a courtesan and the struggles she encountered.From her first tryst with dancing in village fairs to mehfils of feudal lords, Kisuki Bai tells her imaginary daughter everything. The stories of men, who came in her life only to exploit her and her art for monetary benefits and left when she was too old to continue dancing, were the most poignant of them all.
Review: It is one thing to choose a dynamic character to play on stage but doing justice to it is something else altogether. Sasikala Dharmavarapu sure had a strong character in Kisuki Bai but she couldn’t bring the necessary intensity to her portrayal. However, one must appreciate director Ram Mohan Holagundi’s courage in casting a young actor like Sasikala to play such a layered role. Kisuki Bai is a challenging role, replete with diverse emotions, and it takes more than just serious acting chops to play it convincingly. The young actor did strive to bring out the essence of the character and it was evident on stage, however, the intricacies of the character proved a little too heavy a burden to carry on her young shoulders. When Sasikala was going about narrating incident after incident in the dancer’s life, it all looked a little too forced. Especially, the scenes when she wails in labour pain, her recurring yowls and whines were a tad too monotonous and jarring. The fact that Sasikala is not a trained dancer only made matters worse. Though she has the rhythm and tempo to match steps to beats, it wasn’t enough to play a character of a naachni. The scene, where she demonstrates the avatar of Bhadrakali and performs the Rudra Tandava, was not only meek but also devoid of necessary mudras and aggression.
Director Ram was spot on in the way he wisely used the stage throughout the play. With minimal set design and stress on dialogue delivery and pre-blocking, Ram visualised the critical scenes really well, but was let down by flaky execution.
Technically, we were informed prior to the show that the staging would be held without LED lights. But there was ample scope for light play in some scenes and its absence did compromise the production. In the sound department, old Bollywood hits during scenes of village fares and the occasional melancholy sarangi constituted most of the background score.
Verdict: Naachni, we are afraid, is an opportunity lost. Bhanu Bharti’s script is a beautiful one alright, but is a tough nut to crack acting-wise and demands maturity in terms of execution. The young Sasikala just did not have the necessary gravitas to bring out the layers in the character. The performance needed more intensity and
dancing skills, among others. A few more days in the rehearsal room perhaps will definitely do her some good.