This section illuminates the life and journey of two luminaries of Vazhuvoor style in Indian cinema: Kamala Lakshman and Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai. Kamala was the first–
born child of Rajam and Ramamurthy Iyer. Rajam, Kamala’s mother was very passionate about dance. When the family lived in Mayuram, she unfailingly took Kamala to every catir concert in the neighborhood. The dances would be performed by hereditary artists like Kumbakonam Bhanumathi–Varalakshmi and Thiruveezhimalai sisters in weddings and temple festivals. Kamala’s training in Bharatanāṭyam started under Kattumannarkoil Muthukumara Pillai in 1934 in Mayuram. Her mother played the role of a mentor for Kamala. She completed her araṅkēṟṟam under this dance master in the year 1941. For this, her mother did her make–up and played on the harmonium. The music orchestra consisted of clarinet and mṛidaṅgam. Kattumannarkoil Muthukumara Pillai’s style is characterized by stiff movements of body and hands. The dance movements can seemingly look disconnected in this style. (Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 20–
23; Yennamalli 2014)
Within a few years, Kamala had become well–known in dance circles. Since Muthukumara Pillai was aging a little, he suggested her Bharatanāṭyam continuance with the naṭṭuvanār, Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai. When she joined Vazhuvurar, it was as if a great teacher and a diligent disciple had come together. Until then, Balasaraswati and Rukmini Devi Arundale were established figures. Once Kamala coupled with Vazhuvurar, she won over the people at large. However, she did not relearn the basic aḍavus from him. Unlike Dandayudhapani Pillai, who was very particular about Vyjayanthimala relearning the entire set of aḍavus to correct her style, Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai did not lay emphasis on this. He directly began teaching Kamala the different items in the repertoire. Vazhuvoor’s style was different from Kattumannarkoil
68 Here, ‘authentic’ refers to the fact that the tillāna is line with the structure and musicalities as discussed in chapter 3.
Muthukumara Pillai’s style in the fact that he avoided standing at the end of jatis and svaras. (Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 23–24; Yennamalli 2014)
Kamala Lakshman is well–known for the Vazhuvoor style of Bharatanāṭyam. Firstly, what catches one’s eye, is the speed at which she executes the aḍavus. Even at high speeds, her limbs are in perfect position. The audience gets to experience her split–
second precision thrills, freezes for poses, her leaps, and spins to round off a passage in an item. She can indulge in rapid turns in quick succession which is because of her short training in Kathak during her early days. Even for these swift turn arounds, she executes them with poise and lightness, characterizing the completion of her stance. She has the unique proficiency to freeze into poses at the end of strenuous whirling movements. Her absolute control over her body and breath is no less. Kamala’s agility is striking, especially when she does a full 360–degree turn, for just four mātras (internal beats of a tāla) of a single beat, and end by taking the perfect position for the next aḍavu.
(Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 20,24; Rao 2012a: 14,15,20,21) There is tremendous ease in her execution of nṛtta. This makes even treacherously complex nṛtta to appear deceptively simple. Kamala’s tapping of feet is soft and sharp as against a heavy thud. This marks her leaps and landings with feline grace. Her style of nṛtta is devoid of demarcations and cuts between the aḍavus. Every aḍavu seems to grow organically into the next with an element of grace. With complimentary neck and eye movements, the aḍavus look as if they are in a perpetual smooth flow. (Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 20,24; Rao 2012a: 15;
Kumari Kamala in Bharata Natyam 1956)
Kamala was not just a dancer but also had an amazing perception and sensibility towards music. Music and dance are seamlessly linked to each other, and all top dance artists require this virtuosity in music.69 Kamala carefully chose the music for her items. Insipid and slumberous music was immediately rejected by her, even if it offered high scope for abhinaya. The music had to inspire her and be worthy of creativity in dance. (Rao 2012b:
41) Blending of bhāva using her eyes, prominent chin, and sensitive lips is a characteristic of Kamala’s nṛtta. Her smile appears natural, and thus, she is epitome of joy when she dances. When Kamala talks about the Vazhuvoorar’s style, she mentions
69 In the interview with Vyjayanthimala Bali, she expressed the importance of music for dance. At the end of the interview, she sang a song. Her sweet and meeliflous voice was so beautiful to hear. Refer
“Interviewing Vyjayanthimala Bali” in chapter 5, 23:50, 24:03.
that Vazhuvurar’s style avoids stiffness of movements and lays emphasis on poses.
(Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 26; Rao 2012a: 14) In his style, “there is bhāvam even for the aḍavus… Even nṛtta is full of life. You can do it with a lot of expression.”
(Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 26) This expression occurs on its own when the aḍavus are executed.
The specifics of Kamala’s aḍavu style need mention. One of the most taxing, yet visually brilliant is her sarukkal aḍavu70 where she slides her foot as far behind as possible without the slightest bend of the knee while her hands remain fully stretched. For the tirmāna aḍavus which form the climax of a kōrvai, or jati, or svara, Kamala executes it with so much of expression. Especially for the triple measure of sollukaṭṭu that goes like – ‘tadiṇgiṇatoṃ, takatadiṇgiṇatoṃ, takadikutadiṇgiṇatoṃ’, she looks straight ahead, then at her hand, head turns back and follows the circular movement of the hand forward.
From the spectators’ point of view, it seems like she says, ‘here it is, take it’, every time she effects this aḍavu. In the kōrvai aḍavus, as she opens the kaṭakāmukha hasta into a series of alapadmas71, it appears like stars sparkling in heaven. For her paical aḍavus, when she leaps from one side to another with the kartarīmukha hasta, the reporters have a different description. They compare this to a heroine taunting an elusive consort with her eyes that she is right after him. Thus, Kamala is proven to have conveyed so much through her expressions in nṛtta. (Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 22,27; Rao 2012a: 15)
Kamala’s stint in Indian films began when she was only five years old. Since Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai was already a dance director in films, he suggested Kamala for the roles.
Kamala’s family was dependent on her earnings at that time. Therefore, even though some votaries of art were unhappy about Kamala entering films, she felt no regret.
Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai had choreographed most of her dances in films. She did a few under the dance direction of Dandayudhapani Pillai, Kanchipuram Ellapa, and Hiralal.
She created a sensation the moment she appeared in films. Great singers including D.K.
Pattamal, M.L. Vasantakumari have sung for her films. (Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 21–46;
Guy 2012)
70 Refer to chapter 2, section 2.1.1 for details on aḍavus.
71 Refer to chapter 2, section 2.2.2 for details on hastas.
The design and choreography of Kamala’s dance in movies was a collaborative process with Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai. Vazhuvurar enjoyed freedom from the directors for his choreographic style. After shooting, Kamala and Vazhuvurar would carry out adjustments watching the preview. (Minai 2014) Like Vyjayanthimala, Kamala’s roles in films too were based on her dance. Kamala maintained a clear dividing line between her career in films and her career on stage. Even though many of her early film dances were strictly ‘classical’, and looked like Bharatanāṭyam performed on stage, she seems to have deviated from the technique of Bharatanāṭyam in the film dances of her later years.
(Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 28,29,2272) Choreographies specifically prepared for cameras have in her case, changed some of the techniques of Bharatanāṭyam. This concerns the aḍavu innovations created by her and Vazhuvurar – reduction of abhinaya repetitions and choreographing new movements for camera angles (Vijayaraghavan 2012b: 30,31).
In cinema shootings, the dancer’s control over the audience is lower, because of the angles offered by the camera, added with editing techniques. Nevertheless, Kamala denies the fact that her quality of Bharatanāṭyam reduced in films because of this.
(Raman 2012a: 18; Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 3473)
There is a twenty–five minutes’ documentary film made on Kamala titled, Kumari Kamala in Bharata Natyam (1956). She has won several awards as a dancer and has a huge repertoire of items to her credit. The repertoire contains tillānas that she studied under Vazhuvurar, and the ones she choreographed. Tillāna in rāgas – aṭṭāna, chenchuruti, kanada, kedāram, khamās, śankarābharaṇam, and surati were taught to her by Vazhuvurar. A tillāna in the hindoḷaṃ rāga74 is found among her choreographies. But this one is a composition of Madurai Krishnan, which has the following pallavi – “dhīṃ tānananā”. (Vijayaraghavan 2012b: 4075; Vijayaraghavan 2012b: 31)
72 The page numbers are not ordered correctly in – Vijayaraghavan, S. (2012a). Kamala, the dancer. Sruti, [E–book edition], E–Issue 6, May 2012. Certain page numbers appear twice. Here, page 22 refers to its second occurance. All the page numbers referred to in this paragraph belongs to the pages that contain the interview of the author with Kamala.
73 As seen in the footnote above, page numbers are not ordered correctly in this book. Here, Page 34 refers to its second occurace.
74 The selected tillāna performed by Kamala in the movie, New Delhi (1956) is also in the same rāga.
75 As seen in the footnote above, page numbers are not ordered correctly in this book. Here, Page 40 refers to its second occurace.
At this juncture, it is meaningful to study the life and style of Kamala Lakshman’s guru and naṭṭuvanār, Vazhuvur Ramiah Pillai who was the leading light of Vazhuvoor bāṇi.
Ramiah Pillai (Vazhuvurar) was born in the village of Vazhuvoor in 1910. He grew up with his maternal uncle after he lost his father at a very young age. Just like Muthuswami Pillai, Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai too stayed with a naṭṭuvanār in Mayavaram, about eight kilometers from his village. There, he learned the art of Bharatanāṭyam. Later in 1938, he migrated to Madras when he received opportunities to train actors to dance in films.
Vazhuvurar came to be known as the creative master because of his innovative works.
He was recognized for choreographing patriotic songs like “āṭuvomē paḷḷī pāṭuvomē” in movies and on stage, especially during and after India’s independence. He introduced repertoire items like varṇams and padams in the Tamil language (that were primarily in Telugu). For this, he used the same composition and pattern from the item, but replaced the lyrics in Tamil language. This was successful amongst the Tamil audience. The skill, sonority, and majesty with which he rendered the sollukaṭṭu was matchless. He was an expert in keeping offbeat cycles in jatis even at a young age. (Vijayaraghavan 2012b:
18–22; Gurunatha 2016)
A detailed view of the different characteristics of Vazhuvoor bāṇi is necessary. Abhinaya had newer interpretations and fewer repetitions. Without much abhorrence, abhinaya had subtlety. His jatis, kōrvais, and svaras had complex patterns in tāla with precise and sharp naṭṭuvangam. The style emphasizes fluency of gestures and facial expressions as against rigid classicism and severity of line and form. The facial features were mobile while performing nṛtta as against a plain smile. Fast tempos and aesthetic poses for transitions in music were given priority. Vazhuvurar made the entire presentation stylized and graceful. The dancer’s entries and exits were made novel. (Vijayaraghavan 2012b: 27,28; Venkatraman 2012: 28; Lakshminarayanan 2010: 29–33)
Vazhuvurar upheld his family tradition and brought it into a new sphere – the Indian cinema. When Vazhuvurar started choreographing for films, there were no studios in Madras. The dance sequences were shot in Calcutta until the first ‘Newstone’ studio opened in Madras. Except for trained dancers like Kamala, E.V. Saroja, all the actors in films had to be trained from the basics. Vazhuvurar taught T.R. Rajakumari, K.L.V.
Vasantha, M.V. Rajamma, and Pasupuleti Kannamba. Vazhuvurar maintained a
monopoly as a dance director for many years in the film industry. He composed and choreographed dances to suite every situation in the film. He would spend four to five months on training actresses on their foot movements, hand gestures, and facial expressions. Vazhuvurar had a perfect sense of camera and was proficient in choreographing with constraints. He would make modifications based on area available for the shoot and camera angles. Close–ups were given emphasis. He was a teacher who offered full autonomy to the dancer, especially in the case of Kamala, for new ideas and innovations. (Vijayaraghavan 2012b: 24–27, 29–31; Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 27,28) Kamala, in an interview with Sruti talks about the duo’s innovations –
“He and I have together formulated some new adavu–s. There are some adavu–s which are very similar to each other. I would try some variations of them and perform in front of him. Such as doing an araimandi adavu in full standing posture or to do a full mandi or to do with a bend or a slant. As he thought out the movements during choreography, I would do these variations.
He would be pleased very much.” (Vijayaraghavan 2012b: 30)
A very rare footage of Vazhuvurar is available in a documentary film, Morning in India that is housed at the online film archive, Net Film. In this film, he is seen doing naṭṭuvangam for E.V. Saroja for the song “naṭanam ādinar”. He is also seen walking, smiling, singing, reciting the sollukaṭṭu, and demonstrating hand gestures, eye and eyebrow movements to a group of young girls. (Net Film 1956: Reel 6, 01:35–03:55) Vazhuvurar was a celebrated guru in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s especially because of his star disciple Kamala. With his broad vision of the cinematic medium, ability to depict composite ideas with popular songs, he made Bharatanāṭyam interesting to a very wide cross section of people. A huge percentage of people took to dancing after seeing Kamala. One could confidently say that Kamala defined the Vazhuvoor style. This style was a contrast when compared to the Pandanallur style. The former gave importance to unorthodox and creative dancing, while the latter emphasized on grammar, structure, and technique. Vazhuvurar’s Bharatanāṭyam disciples include T.M. Pattamal, Anandhi, Radha, Kamala, Lalitha and Padmini who all made their successful entry into films.
Other stage performers who also studied under his tutelage include Kanaka Srinivasan, Komala Varadan, Padma Subrahmaniam, Chitra Vishverswaran, Swamimalai
Rajarathinam, naṭṭuvanārs, K.J. Sarasa, and S.K. Kameshwaran. (Vijayaraghavan 2012b:
24–28,32; Venkataraman 2012: 28; Vijayaraghavan 2012a: 27,2876)
The selected tillāna from the movie, Chori Chori (1956) performed by Kamala has been directed by Dandayudhapani Pillai of Pandanallur bāṇi. In the alārippu section, it is already seen that Dandayudhapani Pillai is a genius composer and musician. He has several tillānas to his credit and is known to prefer his compositions for stage recitals and film shoots. From the list of his tillāna compositions77, one can see that he has been a fan of the hindoḷaṃ rāga. Though this tillāna performed by Kamala in the same rāga is not part of Dandayudhapani Pillai’s list of tillānas, it is likely that it is a composition of Dandayudhapani Pillai. (Mohan 2010: 47–48) A statement from the article on bāṇis with respect to his tillāna compositions might be of interest – “…many times he changed the pallavi line of the tillana, keeping the latter part constant. Thus, for some tillanas like the one in hindolam, different versions are available.” (Mohan 2010: 48)
Thus, it would be intriguing to identify any glimpse of Pandanallur bāṇi in the execution of the tillāna in the movie Chori Chori by the idol of Vazhuvoor bāṇi, Kamala Lakshman in the validation section in chapter 5.78 This section endevoured to provide an account of the two players of Indian cinema industry who not only made Bharatanāṭyam widespread during the flux–period but also cultivated the Vazhuvoor bāṇi, the popular style of Bharatanāṭyam in the cinematic realm.
76 As seen in the footnote above, page numbers are not ordered correctly in this book. Here, Page 22 refers to its second occurace.
77 A list of Dandayudhapani Pillai’s compositions is available at http://www.indian–
heritage.org/lyrics/kndp.html
78 I have received training in the Vazhuvoor style of Bharatanāṭyam. All my three teachers – K.J. Sarasa, Lavanya Sankar, and Padma Subrahmanyam belong to the Vazhuvoor style. K.J. Sarasa and Padma Subrahmanyam are direct disciples of Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai.