Interview: Sonal Mansingh

Interview: Sonal Mansingh
usic and dance, like other sublime
forms of expression, have transcended the barriers of language and
religion. We are in an age where a Zubin
Mehta conducting a Philharmonic
Orchestra or a Higgins earning for himself
the nickname of 'Bhagavatar' are factual
pointers to this. Closer home, we have
artistes like N. Rajam, a South Indian
who is the ace violinist of the Hindustani
music scene. On yet another front, that of
films, we have always had popular South
Indian or Bengali actors and actresses
dominating the Hindi cinema. Among
dancers too there are quite a number haling
from a particular region of our country
performing in a form that is essentially a
product of a different one.
M
So far so good. But do we detect withal a
new-old streak of stubborn chauvinism, a
certain reservation in the acceptance of a
musician or a dancer from another region
when he or she takes up the art form of
our own region? Is it possiblethat Madrasis
hesitate to accept a Bharatanatyam recital
by Sonal Mansingh as pucca, or that the
cognoscenti ofCuttack cavU at putting the
seal of approval on the same Sonals Odissi
dancing? Is it possible, in reverse "logic",
South Indians believe that, in Hindustani
classical music, Parween Sultana, for
example, is truer than the talented Lakshmi
Shankar who is a native of Madras? Is
there a vestige of cultural parochialism
and a patronising attitude towards
"foreigners" from within the country as
well as without?
" outsider in Orissa too, despite being a
'bahu'. To talk of my earlier days, no
such feeling was implied consciously or
otherwise. As you know, I had my earlier
training in Bharatanatyam from U.S. .
Sonal Mansingh dwells on this subject as
well as on a few others in an interview with Krishna Rao in Bangalore. With him and
his wife there wasn't even the problem of
SRUTl correspondent PUSHKALA
verbal
communication. By the time I went
GOPAL. Born in a family which hailed
to Gowri Amma, I knew a modicum of
from Gujarat but later settled in Bombay,
Tamil (Sonal articulates this as Tamizh',
Sonal trained in Bharatanatyam under
in a manner that would make TamiHans
U.S. Krishna Rao in Bangalore and
subsequently under die legendary Mylapore proud). Besides, I think verbal
communication at this level is quite
Gowri Amma. Her Odissi she learnt
superfluous when the guru and disciple
under the guidance of Guru Kelucharan
Mohapatra. Significantly, Odissi and Sonal are communicating through the medium
and language of dance.
grew popular together. She is one of our
most popular dancers • a dancer in two
PG: How receptive were you to the
idioms, a woman of multifaceted
atmosphere in Madras which must have
personality.
certainly been different from what you
PUSHKALA GOPAL: Amidst all the
were used to?
hustle and bustle of the dance scene, one
SM: My memories of my earlier years
does every once in a while hear: "Sonal
are of the time I spent with my grandfather
Mansingh oh, a North Indian. Her
Pakvasa who was a Governor. At his
Bharatanatyam cannot be all that
house
in Nagpur, artistes and great
authentic." I am sure you have strong
musicians like D.K. Pattammal, Bade
reactions to this. Before asking for them,
Ghulam Ali Khan and numerous others
however, I should like to find out about
would come to stay and perform. I was
your earlier training in dance and wbether
nurtured in an atmosphere where the love
your being an 'outsider' to the 'insider'
of art was simply an indivisible part of
posed any problem.
life. When I went to Madras with the
SONAL MANSINGH: I guess this would intention of pursuing my training. I was
apply twice over in my case as I was an
able to lose myself in the hours that I
spent dancing. If there were any domestic
problems, they were so obviously trivial,
I can't say I remember them at all.
PG: Could you tell us about your actual
training under Gowri Anuna? Of our
leading dancers today, I am sure very few
have learnt from her directly.
SM: Anima used to spend hours at a
time with me. In between performing
sessions she would take time off for a
coffee or idli, or even a pan, and resume
the item. You see, she never ate much.
There was no question of her teaching
Abhinaya gesture by gesture. She would
repeat her performance over and over
again, possibly with different movements
and sancharis each time. It was up to me
to observe, imbibe and extrapolate. Her
toothless smile would come out in a rare
moment of appreciation if my dance
happened to meet with her approval or
even if one of her nuances occasionally
eluded me. I did, of course, feel bad
about the number of teaching hours I
forced on her. In retrospect, however, I
am happy. What I have learned from her
is priceless and could have only been
acquired from a direct guru-sishya
encounter. I was probably one of her last
students on whom she expended so much
time.
PG: Have you learnt from anybody else,
since then?
SM: As far as Bharatanatyam is
concerned, not really. The people with
whom I have subsequently worked have
been colleagues rather than instructors.
My earlier gurus in the true sense, the
Krishna Raos, had instilled in me a strong
sense of aesthetics. With that I started
working on my own items, taking
guidance on some points from whichever
Nattuvanar I happened to be collaborating
with.
PG: How were your performances of
Bharatanatyam received?
SM: My first performance was at the
Children's Theatre. I remember perform­
ing there and a number of other places
between 1962 and 1969. Sometimes I got
only Rs. 250/- which I was told was a
princely sum then - many dancers were
willing to fund themselves even in those
days! The highest remuneration I got was
about Rs. 1000/- The reviews were
encouraging; they were complimentary,
as far as my technique and impact went.
PG: You do not seem to perform that
frequently in the South these days. Is it
because you are seldom invited or is it on
account of monetary considerations?
SM: It is really the latter. I do not get
invitations which are supported by
payments at a level where a visit for a
single engagement becomes economical.
I need to club together at least three or a
whole chain of recitals. As you know.
I've been more than busy this side and
abroad and therefore I have not been
able to find the time to follow up all the
invitations. I do go once or twice a year at
the least. Apart from Tamilnadu, I've
performed in Kerala and Karnataka quite
a few times.
my style of performing Odissi with a
perceptive assessment of the nuances that
are typically mine. Such observations
matter more to me than prejudiced
acceptance or disapproval.
PG: I think it is some time since you were
featured in the festivals in the December
season in Madras.
PG: You do feel, then, that there is some
discrimination in the allocation of
opportunities and recognition in the form
of awards?
SM: Yes, my last performance for the
Music Academy was in December 1969.
It was generally well-received—I
remember Balasaraswati complimented
me warmly on it—but subsequently I have
not been invited. I am told that the
Sabhas each has its own clique, that even
amongst Madras dancers only someone
with a specific equation with a Sabha is
specially promoted. I have neither the
time nor the inclination to pursue this
kind of patronage. I have achieved what­
ever I have on merit; it is my own
performances which have earned me my
popularity and my hard work which has
brought about my success. To me, now it
doesn't matter if my audiences happen to
be in the North, Indore, Madras or even
outside India. In fact, I find that people
outside India judge a performance or an
artiste on merit and are more objective
and discerning. My trip to Germany last
year elicited some valuable reactions to
SM: Yes, I suppose so. You've set me
thinking, really. As one who never heard
comments on Damayanti Joshi's Kathak,
or the Jhaveri Sisters' Manipuri, I think
this issue is something that has been
mooted quite recently, in the last few
years. The reasons are too petty to be
taken cognisance of. It is a pity, though,
that such undercurrents of envy, insecurity
and warp have to cloud the scene.
(Laughingly) There was a time, candidly,
when I shed tears over it. Despite many
satisfying years of training — I put in ten
hours a day of training under Guru
Kelucharan— and performing in Odissi,
I found that after my divorce from my
first husband, an Oriya, all this talk about
my being a non-Oriya Odissi dancer
started. It is reaching out to the hearts of
the people that is important to the selfsatisfaction of the dancer. That is some­
thing I have which all this talk cannot
touch.