Raindrop Festival

Drizzles on the sprawling campus of Bhavan’s aptly complemented the 3 day Raindrop festival organized by Sam Ved, Society for Performing Arts to celebrate the 60th birth year of a phenomenon called Pandit Durga Lal, the Prince of Kathak from Jaipur Gharana. The spirit behind the festival for the last 18 consecutive years is Mrs. Uma Dogra, the dedicated disciple of the maestro.

The atmosphere was full of dense aromatic spirit and dedication percolating through two generations of gifted disciples of the legendary maestro. Cozy auditorium, filled with positive energy radiating through beaming faces of the dancers, drenched the receptive audience with joy to the hilt.

Inauguration by Dr. kanak Rele was well deserved and apt in setting the spirit of the festival. Performances by Hitesh Chauhan, disciple of Guru Jagdish Gangani, by Aditi Bhagwat, disciple of Dr. Roshan Kumari and by Anurag Verma, disciple of Guru Rajendra Gangani were spectacular. While Hitesh regaled the audience with some beautiful paran, chhand and aamad in 9 beats, Anurag, with spark in her eyes, stole the show by presenting compositions in 16 beats, correlated to raindrops.

Junior and senior disciples of Mrs Uma Dogra literally created an aura of the legendary maestro on the second day of the festival. Presence of Mrs Dogra on the stage, encouraging her nestlings and complementing senior disciples was a tremendous spectacle. The nestlings quite impressively proved that they have the ability to tread the path to excellence. They paid their fond homage to the maestro by presenting Guru Vandana along with his various compositions in 16 beats.

Yet remarkable performances by the senior disciples of Mrs. Dogra viz. Indrayanee, Sadia, Nehal, Tina, Sayali, Rachana, Ulka and Arti conveniently established two facts. First, that Mrs. Dogra is not only carrying forward the legacy of her Guru but also expanding the horizon by her ingenuity. Second, that she is conclusively one of the finest kathak Gurus in the country who has combined purity of the form with skill, method, grace and aesthetic. Her forte became evident when the disciples presented compositions in rare Taals of 9, 11 and 13 beats. She further made the presence of her Guru conspicuous by enabling the disciples perform his famous composition Dashavtar in 10 beats. It was a sheer treat to witness the progeny of Pt. Durga Lal carrying forward his legacy and the finest nuances of Jaipur Gharana in a majestic way under the guidance of his favourate disciple Uma Dogra.

The personality and art of the maestro lucidly portrayed through an engaging film followed by an interesting interactive session on the concluding day. The film ‘Nirvana Through Dance’, produced by Sam Ved and Mrs. Dogra and directed by Ms. Indrayanee amply reflected on the genius of the maestro. During the interactive session, it was the time for the speakers to saunter down memory lane and share with the audience many sweat memories of the maestro.

Sam Ved with its gifted students is sure to go down the annals as a major contribution to Kathak Dance.