Lord Krishna is the supreme lover, his love is unconditional,pure, sincere and honest, He loves everyone, whether it is Radha,Rukhmani or Satyabhama or the Gopis for that matter, his presence is omnipresent, hence the "Maha Raas" takes place, where every Gopi feels that Krishna is dancing with her, that is the magical impact of his personality.

In "Bhama Kalapam", an extract from Narayana Teetha's Krishna Leela Tarangini, the protagonist is Satyabhama, who is beautiful,proud and arrogant too In order to teach her a lesson, Krishna asks Sathyabama, who is more beautiful, you or me, Krishna knew how Satyabhama would react, as expected Satyabhama claimed that she is more beautiful which leads to an argument and finally Krishna leaves dejected and disturbed. Satyabhama realises her folly and calls forth for Krishna, asking for forgiveness. This is the main episode which is enacted by Kuchipudi and Andhra Natyam dancers.

Hong Kong based accomplished Andhra Natyam exponent Sanjay Vadapalli narrates his experience of transforming into the beautiful and royal Satyabhama and the impact of his performances both in India and abroad.

Andhra Natyam and Perini Siva Tandavam was revived and re-established by the veteran mentor, scholar and musicologist Dr Nataraja Ramakrishna.

Sanjay Vadapalli is a leading Andhra natyam exponent and the disciple of Dr Nataraja Ramakrishna. Sanjay Vadapalli shares his work with Guru Vijay Shanker.   

So can you tell us what is Satyabhama all about?

Satyabhama is the warrior wife of Lord Krishna who was immensely proud of her beauty, richness and valour. The Navajanardhana Parijatam relies on the story of separation resulting due to the fight between Lord Krishna and Satyabhama. She is a "Sveeya" and "Svadheenapathika nayika". Though she repents her mistake she does not subjugate as a normal woman/ wife of those days. She doesn’t want to give up her self-esteem and respect.

How is it enacting Sathyabhama?

Enacting Sathyabhama on stage is extraordinarily complex. Firstly, I must do abhinaya as a female and then depict a character and personality which is quite different from my personality. I am a shy, pleasant and a warm person but I need to depict the arrogance and pride of a, strong, egoistic Satyabhama on stage. I spend a lot of time reminding myself that I’m Satyabhama and I’ have to be proud. Before entering the stage, I normally avoid exchanging pleasantries with people around me. I get into a trance mode of Satyabhama. On stage I’m Satyabhama projecting the varied emotions of pride, repentance, anger and suffering the pangs of separation  (the shrungara, roudra, veera rasams are enacted) as if I’m Satyabhama and Krishna hasn’t visited me for long.

How is it for a man to get into the skin of the character of a woman?

For a man to get into the skin of the character of a woman is not easy. Once you are in the typical female "aharya", you automatically get into the character and need to be careful as to how to maintain the demarcation, particularly when interacting with Krishna. You need to maintain the dignity and the elegance of Satyabhama. Watching the softness and subtlety of Nataraja garu and Guru Kalakrishna,has had a strong impact on me, which I try to recreate to the best of my ability. 

How you as a person offstage?

Off stage, I spend time discussing with Guru Kala Krishna on Satyabhama’s personality. The discussions are mostly around the emotions to be shown in a particular song and the nayika bhedam. I’ve a photo click memory to capture every subtle emotion he depicts while doing abhinaya. I memorise the emotions and watch his performances very closely. Yesteryears famous Telugu actress Jamuna has  enacted Satyabhama brilliantly  in movies. I watch her movies and try to learn from her too. Once you get into the psyche of the character you do justice not only to yourself or the character but also to the audience as well. When I dress as Sathyabhama, I make all efforts to look natural and less obvious. I want audience to look at me as Sathyabhama rather than look at me as a man impersonating a woman. This needs extra care and hard work.

How do you prepare for the show?

Few weeks before the show, I maintain strict diet to ensure no extra calories gets added to my food. I avoid direct exposure to sunlight and pollution. Thanks to my parents who gave me great genes, I do not put on weight kilos so easily and my skin needs little maintenance. When selecting dress and jewellery, I will be more careful. I prefer traditional colors and designs rather than contemporary designs. Also, I stick to traditional jewellery designs. This will help me blend naturally into the character I am depicting on stage. With regards to dress colors and jewellery designs I rely on the feedback from my wife (Laxmi), mom (Vijaya) and my friend Vathsalendra. They are overly critical about every aspect of the makeup, appearance and this helps me look the best on the stage. Even when I perform in a different city / country I ensure a video call is made to them before finalising the makeup and dress. For makeup and hairstyle, I often rely on same person. I do not experiment a lot and stick to same product brands and shades most of the time.

Have you done any training in dance?

I underwent methodological training under Guru Nataraja Rama Krishna and Guru Kala Krishna who himself is a great female impersonator and considered as Abhinava Sathyabhama. Later years I did training from Perini Kumar garu. Considering my height (I stand at 6’1’’) lot of efforts were put by my gurus on my aramandi postures and bending. Also, meticulous analysis was done on jathi mudras esp. when ive to jump or take a round so that they do not appear unnatural. Most of the time I rehearse in front of a mirror so that my poses and movements appear natural and feminine.  Guru Kala Krishna explains every single movement and pose in a scientific way. Since Ive been undergoing training for last 4 decades, he knows which adavus and postures suites my body. He then explains to me how I appear when the same movement / posture is done in 3 or more different ways. This helps me align and adapt.

What else do you do?

For abhinaya, I do elaborate discussions with Guru Kala Krishna and Perini Kumar garu on the Nayika bhedas, Satyabhama’s personality. Considering Navajanardhanam is eka patra kelika danced elaborately over 9 nights, various emotions and nayika bhedas must blend well. Lot of effort goes into reading books like Abhinayadarpanam, Ashta nayika bhedas and other reading materials. Then I discuss with my gurus and clarify my doubts. I spend lot of time in front of the mirror practising facial expressions, eye movements, smile etc. I spend lot of time observing and understanding human interactions. Its my favourite pastime. This also helps me understand the depth of human emotions and how different people react to the same situation or one person reacts to different situations. I try internalising some of these observations.

How do you feel when in a female attire. How do you maintain the dichotomy off stage?

For dancers this is particularly important. We depict different characters within a short span of time and sometimes perform different emotions of the same character. This comes with methodological training and strict discipline imbibed by our gurus. When we leave the stage, we fare goodbye to the character, emotions and feelings. We become our own self. We don’t carry the on-stage characters back home. I’ve started performing Satyabhama at the age of 11. Guruji wanted to teach me Navajanardhana Parijatam as it is one of the most complex composition of Andhra Natyam and he wanted me to carry the legacy. Guruji took lots of pain to teach me and make me understand the emotions of Satyabhama and how to depict the Nayika bhedas, abhinaya and rasas. As part of this, Guruji also taught me how to shift between personalities/ characters in a short span of time. This helped me. He used to say, not just male and female characters, you need to understand the different personalities of Vishnu and Shiva when you are performing on stage as they both are different.

What about off stage?

When on stage I depict various characters and narrate different stories and I need to transform into Satyabhama. Once I finish my performance and remove my makeup, I’m Sanjay and my personality is different. We live in a world where people get tagged easily. Also last 50 years of majority thought process is very rigid in gender definitions. The art world doesn’t fit into this dichotomy.

Do you have the support of your family in this?

I have been fortunate to have great support from my family and friends. My wife, Laxmi is a great fan of my dance and has been supportive of my performances. My parents, relatives and friends are my biggest supporters, critics and publicists.

By Guru Vijay Shanker

Guru Vijay Shanker is a professional Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Bharata natyam exponent, dance teacher, choreographer, actor and eminent arts critic for over four decades based in Mumbai. He can be contacted on email: vijaydance@gmail.com