It is no exaggeration to state that any red blooded male Keralite who is currently of the vintage of the very late forties and early to middle fifties might have been infatuated with the beauty of the likable and versatile Shobana Chandrakumar at some stage of their life, and many of them may be still lingering in that state of mind now. Let us see why men are infatuated with this damsel.
If verse is a measured form of speech, dance is a measured form of pace.
Bharathanatyam in which Shobana excels is one of our proudest unadulterated art heritages of thousands of years old. It can be said that it is the oldest form of traditional Saint Bharatha initiated, south Indian dance from which other dance forms got evolved. Bharathanatyam is a very highly complex and composite art form. In this mode of dance, artistic expression of mental feelings and emotional upheavals are expressed in an aesthetic and precise form that stays etched in the viewers’ mind for ever. Bharathanatyam stands proud and tall, as it had done for thousands of years.
Like music dance is the unspoken universal language of Gods.
In one sense writing on Shobana, the elite dancing Apsara is an easy task, because she excels in Bharathanatyam with no frailties in its presentation. So it is a positiveonly presentation. Imagine a flower bud, eye catching as it is, later blossoming into a flower revealing a spectrum of radiant petals glowing in myriad colours, crafted by nature, and spreading its alluring fragrance far and wide. This analogy will suit marvellously if one was to describe Shobana and the meteoric rise of her stature in the dance arenas of the worldwhich happened by the time she became a teen ager. Bharathanatyam remained same in character and format over its long chequered life, some minor changes incorporated along the way made it more appealing aesthetically. For example the change of tempo from slow to madhyama is one such aspect. Shobana dances with extreme elegance and is an exponent of rigorous classical paceydancing. She approaches the art with a missionary zeal and dedication while she meticulously maintains the cores of discipline to its utmost limit. Many dance experts say that great artists never go seeking knowledge and skills; rather it comes seeking the skilled.
She was born in a family of great dancers and actors and that itself is a God given boon. These God given gifts were in her genes since birth. She was into dancing at the tender age of three. By the time she was in her early and middle teens she had accrued name and fame unattained by many veterans. She toured around India and overseas performing in packed prestigious venues, and received accolades from knowledgable dance loving audience. She received a unique distinction of performing in Queens, New York to raise money for constructing the Raja Gopuram of the local Ganesha shrine. During her dance tour of Gulf countries in 1987 the impact of her performance prompted the local daily to come out with a statement that “Shobana sets the U.A.E dancing”. Subsequently she became the talk of both US and Canada, where she danced in many prestigious venues. All these achievements came to Shobana without spin doctors and media supports, which is a factor worth mentioning here. In 1988, she danced at the World Malayalee convention at Chicago. In front of Malaysian Royalty at Putra Auditorium she gave a scintillating Bharathanatyam performance in 1991. We can go on and on about her resoundingly successful dance performances around the world from then on.
We have seen here and there instances when God showers blessings in heaps to chosen few, which is true in Shobana’s case. She isalsoan accomplished actress in south Indian films. I lost count of the number of films in which she portrayed commanding roles, of varying nature. She won countless awards and became a household name.
She was born on 21/3/70 (Aries) in Kerala. Aries born are adventurous, energetic, confident, impatient, dare devil, with good leadership qualities, and capacities to inspire others. If I am to write a thumb nail note of Shobana, the above character qualities would suffice.
She is a star pupil of the famous dance exponent Chitra Vishveswaran of Tanjavoor tradition. I had opportunities to talk to the great dance teacher on dancing in general and she spoke in glowing terms on the dedication and versatility of her highly regarded pupil, Shobana. The forte of Shobana’s dance shows are the portrayal of the amalgam of the artistic abilities in her, like ‘Abhinaya chaturya’, ‘bhava prakatana at will’, clarity line, agility, strong rhythmic command, symmetry in presentation of the idiom and above all the most vital ingredient of ‘Manodharma’.
I can write with some authority that Shobana is a great dancer, a versatile artist, a great Ambassador for India who propagates the art of Dance to other parts of the globe, and above all a fine individual who has no bad bones in her. I studied and followed her success path in an astute fashion, hence the above comment.
In acting field Shobana acted in close to 250 films and won fame and adulation that would be the envy of any Bollywood heroines. In the first ten years of her reign she did 70 films which show the proliferationwhich is only achievable due to dedication of the performer and the public appeal and approval. She was in the minds of youths when she appeared in silver screen and who would not be in romance with her at least in dreams. Beginning with child tear jerker roles she graduated to the brilliant acting role in ‘Manichitrathazhu’ wherein she portrayed as a house wife possessed by a spirit. She entered Malayalam film industry through Balachandra Menon’s ‘April 18’. Among her large portfolio of stellar performances ‘Then mavin kombathu’, Mele parambil aan veedu’, ‘Pavitram’, ‘Mayamayooram’, ‘Golanthara vartha’, ‘Commissioner’, ‘Pappayudae apposa’, ‘Nadodikkattu’,’Aryan’, ‘Vellanakalude naadu’,’Sasneham’ are some of my favourites. In all these films her leading lady’s roles are very divergent and she has applied her talents to the optimum and that is why it is difficult to pick a handful of the best from a massive portfolio of films.
The success in her acting could be directed to a statement she once made on the link between acting and dancing.
”Having a thorough knowledge and practice in classical dance is always a plus point for an actress”.
With the advent of cinematic dance, a very crude form of dancing, even the clumsiest movers put in dance performances to wayward music, is a far cry from the highly structured and proven form of classical Bharathanatyam, which is hard to master.
At the young age of only 40 it is far too early to say quits, while Shobana acts in highly challenging and selected movies only which appeals to her imagination, while she spends considerable time running her dance academy known as ‘Kalapramana’ school of dancing.
I wish Shobana remain as the ‘Swargeya Narthaki’ for the sake of classical Bharathanatyam and her adoring fans of which I am one.
Her Previous dance performance in Sydney was in March 1994. She has agreed to dance at the Riverside auditorium, Parramatta on March 6th 2011. We should thank Sudhir Das of Soorya’s Sydney Chapter and Soorya Krishnamoorthy for getting Shobana to perform in Sydney.