Why a new play about Pandit Ravi Shankar (1920-2012) when his entire life has been exhaustively recorded in his autobiography, biography, as well as in countless interviews, reviews and documentaries?
We know that the legendary artist was only a tween when he became a dancer in his brother’s company in Paris. Then he trained himself rigorously in the sitar with Ustad Allauddin Khan. Establishing himself as a frontline Hindustani musician, he became a global icon at international pop and jazz festivals. He collaborated with western classical musicians like Yehudi Menuhin, Philip Glass and Zubin Mehta, scored the music for several British, American and Indian films – Gandhi, Pather Panchali and Anuradha among them.
The bioplay Enchantment makes no attempt to rewrite Pandit Ravi Shankar’s life story. But it probes into his struggles, personal weaknesses and regrets, to understand how he kept his dreams alive on the bumpy journey to stardom. This approach enables the playwright, actors and viewers, to arrive at fresh insights into the character of the protagonist. It also highlights a universal truth: human grit has the power to transform trials into triumphs.
Gowri Ramnarayan, the playwright, bases her play on materials drawn from books, articles, and documentaries, but relies even more on the spontaneous, witty, and poignant words of the sitar maestro in her multiple interviews with him. She also draws from her memories of personal interactions with the artist from her own childhood.
Enchantment blends the written text with live dancing and recorded music. The music features Pandit Ravi Shankar’s original sitar recordings, and his compositions rendered exclusively for Enchantment by Bombay Jayashri – with Aditya Prakash, Vignesh Ishwar and Chaitra Sairam.
