Eight emotions of a love ballad

Everyone laments that the love story between Lord Krishna and Radha was short-lived, though eternal. People still worship their love and find it inspiring. In its premier show, Radha Rasika, the dancers will elucidate with grace the eight emotions that Radha felt till Lord Krishna left her. As Indians, we are always looking to be intrigued. And Radha fulfils this need perfectly. Debalina Haldar who will be hosting as well as dancing in the show explains, “We are very intrigued by the fact that such a beautiful love story did not culminate in marriage. It attracts many people. There are various emotions that Radha experiences. For example; when she is getting ready — the ritual is called Abhisarika, and when she speaks to her friends about her love — it’s called Premabhava. Through this show, we have tried to give you a flow about the end-to-end journey of her emotions.” From her restlessness, to her playfulness, jealousy and then ultimate sorrow, there is going to be an outpouring of emotions onstage. These emotions will be represented using three dance forms — Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Rabindranritya. 

“The conclusion will have all the three forms coming together to give an illusion within an illusion. Many will question whether it actually happened or was Radha just an imaginary character,” she adds. The show starts with a song sequence introducing Radha and Krishna’s journey. After Krishna leaves, Radha is left to feel these eight emotions uniquely. Debalina adds, “These dance forms come from the Natya Shastra. It shows how all dance forms come from one. We would like to show that even though these dances forms are varied in terms of history, literature and technique, they can come together beautifully,” Haldar explains. 

Radha and Lord Krishna also have a peculiar quality, they always colour coordinate their clothes! Explaining this Debalina says, “Radha was yellow-skinned while Krishna was blue. Therefore, Radha always wore the colour blue or green while Krishna was always seen in yellow. All the dancers in Radha Rasika will be in different shades of blue, depicting why Radha’s favourite colour was blue.” Debalina will be joined Madhurima Dharchaudhri who is also hosting the show, Pratiti Bhattacharya, Ankita Adhikari, Hetvi Vashi and Ankita Dasgupta. 

Madhurima Dharchaudhri, a Kathak dancer will be performing one of the eight emotions — as the playful Radha. She adds, “Radha waits eagerly for Krishna to come but when he doesn’t turn up on time, she gets angry. The song that I will be doing is Kashe Ched from Devdas. I think all women at some level connect with her. The eight emotions we will portray are all something that we have gone through at some point of time.” Pratiti Bhattacharya will bring Kathak and Bharatanatyam to the fore “Through these two dance forms, I will be depicting the relationship between Radha and Krishna. We will also explore the other emotions that Radha goes through,” says Pratiti,  who feels that the show has brought the dancers together even though they come from different backgrounds, and different styles of dance.” 

— The performance will be held at  the Rangasthala auditorium on November 11.