It was during his school days that Arusam Madhusudan, now popularly known as ‘Mime Madhu’, peeped into his classroom at Warangal and saw a classmate doing a one-act performance, which he later learnt was a mime. Says Madhu, “I got deeply interested in the art of mime and performed at the Ganesh pandal celebrations in Warangal. I was also encouraged by Sri Nerella Venu Madhav, a well-known mimicry artiste who provided many platforms for me to perform in my early days.”
Later, Madhu tried to seek guidance from a very senior artiste, who kept on postponing the teaching schedules. “One day, he insulted me and said that I was not eligible to learn this art form for the lack of any background or prior experience. I was crestfallen. I took advice from my friends and decided to search for a guru and develop the art form.”
Armed with great resolve, Madhu traced P. Nagabhushanam in Warangal and urged him to let him become his disciple. “Even though Nagabhushanam had a full-time job, he saw my passion and taught me in his free time. Later, he even designed a kit bag for me and also paid for my train tickets to Kolkata so that I could pursue this art form with internationally renowned mime artiste Padma Shri Niranjan Goswami,” he narrates.
Madhu feels that miming is a great art form which can help develop control on emotions and also bring out the navarasas (nine emotions) with ease. On the personal front, Madhu reveals with ease that he was determined to spend his life as a bachelor. But destiny, who brought into his life the beautiful puppeteer Sabrina Anastasio from France, had other plans in mind. “We were never interested in meeting each other when our common friend, Odissi dancer Meera Das spoke to us. We became friends through social media and one day, I casually decided to ask Sabrina about some techniques of working with shadow puppets. Later, we exchanged many phone calls before something else made us feel close to each other.
“Sabrina came to Hyderabad and met my parents. Strangely, I found her spending hours with my mother and I wondered what language they were conversing in. She did not know Telugu nor did my mother know English. I can’t believe that they understood each other and had more information about each other’s family than I did, and just by conversing through the art of mime!” shares Madhu.
Sabrina, who was mostly into contemporary puppets in France until then, had come to India to learn katputhli (puppet) art in Rajasthan. Later, she got interested in Odissi dance and learnt it for a short while. “The language, tradition, weather, noise, pollution and food are all different here. I intend to learn Telugu along with my little daughter. Madhu and I belong to two different countries as well as traditions. I would love to have a mix of both traditions in our family and continue to enjoy the best of both cultures. I feel one life is not enough to do or understand everything. But I am now concentrating on bringing out the creative aspect of merging and working with contemporary and traditional puppets. Soon, Hyderabad will get an opportunity to experience this unique art form,” concludes Sabrina.
