Houstonians Thrill at Kusum Sharma’s Ram Leela

 

Kusum Sharma’s Ram Leela 2014 on Saturday, September 27 at the VPSS Haveli. The main characters congregate at the end of the play.

Kusum Sharma’s Ram Leela 2014 on Saturday, September 27 at the VPSS Haveli. The main characters congregate at the end of the play.

 

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By Vanshika Vipin

HOUSTON: Houston has an amazing tradition when it comes to festivities around Dushhera. We are lucky to witness for ten years now a theatre form that originated in Northern India over four hundred years ago. Tracing its origins to the 16th century, this folk theatre form took shape from poetry recitals. From Valmiki’s classic work in Sanskrit to Tulsidas’ Hindi Version, the story of Ram went from elite to popular. We witnessed the 10th Edition of Ram Leela in Houston on September 27, at the VPSS Haveli.

Produced and presented by Kusum Sharma’s Shri Natraj School of dance in association with Kalakriti Performing Arts, Houston’s version of Ram Leela was no less traditional. Kusum Sharma, the artistic director of Shri Natraj School of dance has been instrumental in encouraging Bharatnaytam, Kathak and Indian Folk Dance in the Houston and Dallas areas for many years now. She has been applauded for organizing mythological and contemporary dance dramas including Ram Leela, Krishna Leela, Mughal-e-Azam, Meera, Sunder Kand and many others. This year she worked with Houston Grand Opera on “ River of light” where she enacted mini-Ram Leela and played the role of Sita.

Ram and Sita Vivaah (wedding) scene.

Ram and Sita Vivaah (wedding) scene.

In the tenth year of the show, a different venue was chosen as VPSS location had free and ample parking and was closer to many living in Sugar Land and Southwest Houston. As expected, the venue was completely packed. As the audience filled the hall, Abha Dwivedi opened the show as the emcee. She introduced Kalakriti Performing Arts; started by Kusum Sharma as a non-profit tax-exempt organization dedicated to promoting Indian culture. She further went on to invite all the dignitaries on stage for the customary lighting of the lamp. The show started with traditional dance worshipping Lord Ganesh. Then began the Ram Leela including Baalkand, Ayodhya Kand, Aranya Kand, Kishkinda Kand, Sundar Kand, Lanka Kand, Uttara Kand.

Sponsors and other dignitaries on stage for the Lamp lighting ceremony at the Ram Leela 2014 at VPSS Haveli on Saturday, September 27.    Photos: Gautam Jani

Sponsors and other dignitaries on stage for the Lamp lighting ceremony at the Ram Leela 2014 at VPSS Haveli on Saturday, September 27. Photos: Gautam Jani

Every year, Kusum Sharma adds a new element to the Ram Leela. This year, the audience as taken to Kailas Parvat, decorated on the side of the stage where Lord Shiva and Parvati sat and interacted with the audience about the reason behind the birth of Lord Ram, the 7th avatar of Lord Vishnu. This narration between scenes kept the audience occupied, interested and even curious about the upcoming scenes like the Shravan Kumar story – not enacted but rather narrated. Other noticeable acts included the emotional scene about the death of Raja Dashrath, played by Girish Naik and of course the lead role of Lord Ram played by Vipin Sharma.

The second half of the show brought more interesting things: Good use of stage on left and center coupled with excellent light and sound effects along with brand new episodes and spectacular effects kept the audience involved. Shiva Tandav was performed with UV lighting, while Hanuman’s tail was really put on fire during ‘lanka dahan’ episode as fast paced Hanuman Chalisa played in the background depicting Hanuman’s aerial demonstration of magical power, episode of Rameshwaram where Ram asked Samundra devta (played by Neetin Vyas) to cross the ocean, Bali and Sugreev battle episode were enacted very efficiently. A special mention of the main characters played by Prashant Agarwal ( as Lakshman), Dharminder Dargan (as Hanuman) and Hari Sriram playing the antagonist Ravan.

During the interval, Kamlesh and Satish Agarwal, the grand sponsor of the show were recognized and Satish came on stage and thanked the audience as well as Kusum Sharma for putting this show together year after year tirelessly for ten years. This year’s show lasted for about 150 minutes. Kusum Sharma also thanked the rest of the sponsors, the participants, and volunteers and of course, the audience for making the 10th Ramleela a grand success. In addition, she added that she learns something new every year and this year during one of her song rehearsals she learnt, “ Man se Ravan jo Nikale uske man mein hai Ram.” (If you take the evil out of you then godness resides in you automatically)

As the show ended, IAN talked to some members of the audience. Tarsem Agarwal said “we have never seen Ramleela like this anywhere” while a proud parent of a DAV Montessori student beamed “this was one of the best Ramleela I have ever seen and I think most parents would agree with me”. Houston’s Ramleela made it big on social media as well as Rohit Khera, proud parent of Annika put her pictures on facebook “isn’t she the cutest monkey ever”, he said. Interesting to note that the tradition of Ramleela is popular amongst the younger generation as well.

For further information, sponsorship and volunteering – contact Kusum Sharma at info@kalakritiusa.org or visit www.kalakritiusa.org or www.ramleelahouston.org.