POPULAR PRODUCTIONS · AN INDIVIDUAL WORK
Premiere scheduled for 2 January 2027 at Nrutyam Samarpayami, Sirsi. An unusually still forest becomes a world of unease and suspended expectation. Through Bhayanaka and Bibhatsa, the audience enters a story in which familiar meanings begin to shift. The decisive revelation is reserved for the stage.
Conceived as a new literary montage, the production draws on several inherited texts and Shaiva narrative traditions rather than on a single ancient author or an original composition of their verses.
Theme and interpretation
Forest stillness, ritual unease, Bhayanaka and Bibhatsa, and the dramatic transformation of perspective.
Composition and musical form
Literary sources include the forest-stillness image in Kalidasa’s Kumarasambhava (canto 3, verse 42), selected devotional passages from Kashi Vishvanathashtakam, the Shiva invocation associated with Lakshmisha’s Jaimini Bharata, and wider Shaiva/Darukavana and Nataraja Tandava traditions. Verses are repurposed within a new stage montage.
Speciality of this production
A suspense-led dance-theatre treatment in which the central dramatic revelation remains unannounced, allowing the audience to discover the change of emotional meaning during the performance.
Contributing artists
Live Rangapravesha ensemble (for the 2 January 2027 presentation):
Nattuvangam — Guru Vidushi Seema Bhagwat, Sirsi
Vocal — Karnataka Kalashree Balasubramanyam Sharma, Bengaluru
Mridangam — Vidwan Pancham Upadhyaya, Bengaluru
Violin — Vidwan Praadesh Achar, Bengaluru
Flute — Vidwan Deepak Hebbar, Bengaluru
Rhythm pad — Lakshmeenarayanan
Nattuvangam — Guru Vidushi Seema Bhagwat, Sirsi
Vocal — Karnataka Kalashree Balasubramanyam Sharma, Bengaluru
Mridangam — Vidwan Pancham Upadhyaya, Bengaluru
Violin — Vidwan Praadesh Achar, Bengaluru
Flute — Vidwan Deepak Hebbar, Bengaluru
Rhythm pad — Lakshmeenarayanan
Concept, choreography and direction
Literary conception and montage — Shashikant Hegde. Bharatanatyam presentation under the guidance of Guru Vidushi Seema Bhagwat. Further choreography and direction credits can be updated as approved.