Veena Sahasrabuddhe

Leading Hindustani vocalist Veena Sahasrabuddhe of the Gwalior gharana passed away on 29 June 2016 at Pune, Maharashtra. She was 67 and had been ailing from a rare neurological condition.

Veena’s parents Shankar Shripad and Shanta Bodas hailed from Sangli in Maharashtra. A contemporary of Omkarnath Thakur and Vinayakrao Patwardhan, Bodas was an early student of Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. Active  in the nationalist movement, Paluskar was in the habit of sending his students to different parts of the country as music missionaries. He deputed Bodas to Kanpur, after being requested by locals to bring classical music to that mainly industrial town.

I was blessed to hear the music of MS right from my childhood from my mother, a  good singer, who would sing all MS songs – the film songs of Meera, Sakuntala, Sevasadanam and Savitri as well as the classical songs released on vinyl records. Those are the best examples of MS Amma’s voice and its versatility. The film songs written by Papanasam Sivan and Kalki, set to music by the likes of  S.V. Venkataraman, cannot be labelled as light songs. The contents were of the highest order in terms of bhakti, and the classical tunes sung by M.S. Subbulakshmi in her ethereal voice were haunting. Her voice could do wonders with its reach and modulation. Long karvais were followed by moments when the voice would flash out a mind-blowing briga.

Performance has the quality of being transient. To capture the ephemeral moment of artistic expression into an eternal reflection requires an intelligent eye, a sensitive heart and a deep understanding of the arts.  A name that has become synonymous with performing arts photography in the country is Avinash Pasricha.

Pasricha believes that technical skill can be learnt but perceptiveness, empathy and affection are the core qualities that a photographer must nurture. True to his words, he lives by the same values, sharing fun-filled camaraderie and deep bonds with artists over the years. He has spent more than five decades capturing various moods, nuances and shades of classical music and dance. 

It was an artistic journey down memory lane. So many happenings flash in my conscience when I think of  Kavalam Narayana Panikkar (Kavalam to me) and our long and artistically vibrant and fruitful association of almost 35 years. It reveals high junctures of aesthetic catharsis in Indian dance in general and Mohini Attam in particular.

P.N. Rajalaxmi, an erstwhile teacher in the ‘Dance Section’ of Kerala Kalamandalam had migrated to Bombay in search of greener pastures. At the suggestion of a few friends I agreed to learn Mohini Attam from her. I was introduced to Mohini Attam in 1966. I was already an established performer of Kathakali ‘stree-vesham’ (women character), having been a disciple from a young age of the great guru ‘Panchali’ Karunakara Panikkar.