| JNU professor Manoj Pant is giving a new tune to the timeless epic, the Ramayana |
SYMPHONYPant has composed tracks in different genres like rock blues and jazz
The story of Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Ravan continues to find an expression on the artistic horizon. The ideal characters, the concept of Dharma and the devotional element, which are the hallmark of Ramayana — one of the two great Hindu epics – are enough to keep creative minds enchanted. Now, it has caught the fancy of Manoj Pant — economic advisor to the Government of Nagaland and a professor at the Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where he teaches International Trade theory. He is composing a rock musical on the Ramayana.
Away from the numerous dance ballets, plays, classical dance and music recitals where the narrative has always been set to traditional Indian music — even if the text was being viewed in a universal context — Pant is lending it a new hue. The two-hour musical has borrowed the tale from Kumaoni Ramlila, which is translated into Hindustani and set to different genres of western music like rock, jazz and blues. So, what you get in this musical package are a number of songs interspersed with minimal dialogues. Running into roughly four acts, the songs in each one of them will be backed by western music arrangements.
“For instance the song in the first act on Sita's Swayamvar sung by a sad and disappointed Raja Janak, “Toote nahin chaap sita rahe kunwari”, after nobody has been able to break the bow, is a blues composition. The number in the fourth act, “Tum mere jaise purush main tum jaisi naari, ye sanyog vidhi racha vichari”, is rendered by Surpanakha. Ravan's sister is smitten by the handsome Ram and Lakshman and, dancing in front of them in the jungles, she is asking them to marry her. The situation lent itself well to a jazz composition,” explains the founder member of Jazz Yatra. Seventy-five per cent through with the work, he is in the process of finalising his cast and crew. Since dance too will be an important part, Pant has engaged Mumbai-based actor, singer and dancer Madhuri Bhatia for choreography. Auditions will begin as soon as the director is in. The music, which is being composed in his house, has vocals of Pant, his daughter and friends for the sake of rehearsals but “all this will be professionally recorded in the studio and then without any vocals because actors will sing it live on stage.
It will be easier to take it to different places then. It won't be a set-based flashy drama but laced with movements, music and emotions,” says Pant.
For the story, Pant referred to a couple of “Shri Ramlila Nataks”, the books on which Kumaoni Ramlilas are based on.
“They are written by different authors in Eastern UP dialect, who again took material from different sources. With the help of my aunt Manorama Joshi, we translated them into simple Hindustani. Going to the Ramlila was an integral part of the lives of the people of my generation and I have used some of the traditional tunes that I heard in these Ramlilas, like in the song “Aye pakshiyon bataon mujhe sita kahan gayi”. Interestingly, Kumaoni Ramlilas were executed in Parsi theatre style,” says Pant, who is formally trained in classical guitar.
But perhaps the seeds of this work were sown back in the ‘70s when Pant attempted a number of western musicals like “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and “You are a Good Man Charlie Brown”, which he felt offered little scope for innovation and hardly any challenge. “And also, it's not something Indians connect with. So, I thought why not do an Indian musical based on western music. Simon and Garfunkel's “Bleecker Street” is a nice song but how many people here know where Bleecker Street is. Bollywood has combined the brilliant orchestration of the West to Indian settings,” says the artiste who aims to stage the musical in October this year.
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