Mohana festival: Celebration of the arts

“The idea is to keep the soul stirred through the arts," says Arshiya Sethi who will present the first edition of her three-day Mohana Festival from November 9 to 11. And through it, she wants to reach out to the younger generation and help them "look at the arts as not just tools of entertainment but also as a tool for spreading awareness about other powerful issues that affect us all." Sethi gives the example of the play, Night's End that deals with the tiger, forests, tribals and human survival.“Issues such as these concern us all, and the younger lot is raring to do something about them,” she adds.
Talking about Night’s End, its creator and director Gowri Ramnarayan says, "Together with a love story, it puts the spotlight on how human actions make our eco-system so fragile.” Set in a reserve forest in Rajasthan, Night's End is a tale of betrayal, abandonment and loss as it delves into the story of Krishnan Nair, a young Kathakali artiste. But, Krishnan chooses to run away from his village in Kerala and lands up as a forest guard in a tiger sanctuary. There, in moments of emotional intensity, the Kathakali artiste in him finds solace in the dance form he has left behind.
As the story moves through his attempts to seek help from the tiger-hunting Mogiya tribals to save the tiger, his friendship with Billu the drummer, his romance with the tribal woman Chandni and his encounters with the poaching mafia, the play raises many questions — about the safety of the tiger, whether the tribals and other marginalized people can balance their way of life against the intrusions of the modern world, and, of course, whether loneliness can ever be overcome.
The second day of the festival will present a dance-theatre called Yashodhara. Based on the eponymous poem by the great Hindi poet Maithilisharan Gupt, it is about the plight of a woman who is deserted by her husband, the Buddha. Grief impels Yashodhara to search for answers she cannot find within the palace walls. Her inner evolution — from a state of unknowing to ultimate resolution — becomes a poignant, powerful story, a universal myth of human loss, sorrow and transcendence. "It has been inspired by a beautiful carving on one of the entrance pillars of the Sanchi stupa," says Ramnarayan. "It shows a lotus, that despite all the slush it is in, grows into a beautiful flower. The production seeks to individuate that image as a metaphor of human experience and potential."
Shweta Mukti, an Odisi dance presentation by Kavita Dwibedi on the third day of the festival, "is about five women and how they move on to Buddha's path for nirvana,” says Sethi talking about Gautami, his foster mother, his wife Yashodhara, the Brahmin girl Magandhi, Prakruti and the beautiful courtesan Amrapali.
“We have a wealth of poetry in Indian literature and Shweta Mukti will bring together poetic works from five different languages — Sanskrit, Prakrit, Oriya, Hindi and English. And, interwoven with dance and music, it will be a grand spectacle,” adds Sethi.
The Mohana Festival is on from November 9 to 11 at the India Habitat Centre.