Kuchipudi veteran Sobha Naidu who handed away on October 14, influenced a technology of dancers to take up Kuchipudi and skilled them into consummate artistes
She was born to play Satyabhama — was the unanimous opinion of critics and rasikas at all times. She excelled enjoying the robust consort of Krishna within the ballets Bhama Kalapam and Sri Krishna Parijatam. The viewers would await the scene the place Krishna arrives to pacify a sulking Satyabhama, and Sobha by no means disenchanted. Her quick-moving facial expressions, her physique language that ranged from, anger, nervousness, possessiveness — she would present all of it fluidly.
She carried comparable, however emotionally completely different attract, as Padmavathi in her favorite Kalyana Srinivasam. Every time she staged this magnum opus, the auditorium can be packed by an appreciative viewers. A detailed examine of her repertoire will present the empowered girl on the centre of her dance narratives. Chandalika, based mostly on Tagore’s Bengali play, is one other ballet Sobha portrayed with élan. A lady’s battle to be accepted in society and finally discovering her love, Sobha was a deal with together with her heart-rendering but the strong-willed portrayal of Chandalika.
When Sobha selected to current Vipra Narayana, critics felt she was taking up a giant problem because it was already a preferred film. But once more, Sobha got here up with lovely choreography and the late Devulapalli Krishna Sastri’s script and Balantrapu Rajanikanta Rao’s music ensured this ballet remained considered one of Sobha’s finest ballets.
In Vijayostu te Naari (Triumph of the girl) Sobha motivated ladies to be impartial and drew parallels from mythology to steer a path.
College students from far and past
Sobha Naidu portraying the function of Satyabhama within the widespread Kuchipudi ballet ‘Srikrishna Parijatham’
| Picture Credit score: Nagara Gopal
This author is reminded of what Sobha stated almost 28 years in the past on her go to to her Kuchipudi Arts Academy in Domalguda. “Anyone can dance, offered you have got the eagerness and willingness to apply and ideal the shape,” she acknowledged introducing me to her two Russian college students. A pupil of Vempati Chinna Satyam, Sobha impressed the primary technology of Kuchipudi dancers within the metropolis.
Says famend Kuchipudi dancer Deepika Reddy, “She was not simply an inspiration and a pillar of power to me however an icon and flag bearer of the Kuchipudi artwork kind. Nobody can fill this void. She had a deep affection for me. She was large-hearted and beneficiant together with her reward. She was at all times there to encourage me and was the chief visitor for the ‘Rangapravesam’ of my first pupil. She would come and watch a lot of my dance dramas and provides invaluable inputs.”
Recollects Mohan Hemmadi of Surmandal, “I met Sobha ji by means of guru Vempati Chinna Satyam in 1980 for the primary time and we organised her Kuchiupudi efficiency together with Protima Bedi and Chitra Vishweshwaran who gave Odissi and Bharatanatyam recitals respectively. We’re shocked at her demise. It’s a loss to Kuchipudi.”
Whereas her ballets had been masterpieces, Sobha’s solo recitals had been what each dance pupil would take inspiration from — be it her immense stage presence, her delicate join with the viewers and ideal synchronisation with nattuvangam and the accompanying artistes. Her kind was rooted in custom whereas her theme and message travelled past the realm of artwork.
