Bharathi's Bharat by
Natya Sudha
NMML Auditorium 18 November 2009
As part of the on-going celebrations to commemorate the 120th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the NMML on 18 November 2009 organized 'Bharathi's Bharat', a performance by Natya Sudha, a theatre group based on Delhi, celebrating the poetry of Subramanya Bharathi through dance. Subramanya Bharathi was one of India's greatest Tamil poets whose compositions helped rally the masses to support the Indian independence movement in South India.
The performances by Jaya Iyer, Devika and their guru and director of Natya Sudha, Rani Shingal were peppered with discussions on the poetry of Bharathi. The audience included around 350 children from various schools and NGOs who enjoyed the performances regardless of their non-familiarity with Tamil lyrics. Jaya Iyer, who is also the coordinator of the Children Resource Centre (CRC), NMML, explained the meaning of each song before every performance. 'We are planning to start in the CRC, few art-based programmes for children to familiarize them with the artists and the aesthetics of art forms and thus intend to turn it into an educational experience for them', she said later.
The event concluded with poetry writing for children who churned out, to everyone's joy and surprise, brilliant lines based on themes picked from Bharathi's compositions, such as 'azaadi', 'josh', 'krishna bhakti', 'equality', 'love' and so on, with the help of Jaya and the CRC team.
