Dance, Devotion and Despair: Exploring Sagarasangamam
Anasuya Avadhanam
SY BSc Economics (2023-27)
Estimated Reading time ~ 5 minutes
Sagarasangamam is one of my all-time favourite movies, solely for its impeccable depiction of classical art and the struggle of an economically disadvantaged artist. The plot follows the life of Balakrishna, played by Kamal Hassan, who is a phenomenal dancer trained in multiple traditional forms but couldn’t get himself to commercialise his art in exchange for his morals, making one tough choice after another, playing his life out just like the dramatic tales in his dance.
Indian Dance forms and its depiction:
The movie beautifully deals with the conflict of an artist in the modern age, where fast-moving, highly commercial stories are sold, and traditional art forms are just accessory skeletons. Balakrishna learns Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam and Kathak to make a new amalgamated art form just like Uday Shankar but it becomes impossible with no patron, with no backing and with such poor economic conditions. It is incredibly hard to penetrate classical art forms let alone make a living out of them as these forms were mostly performed by the upper castes who had either their endowments or had connections to pull the expenses involved in performing and producing a show. Lack of patrons was also the cause of the extinction of various regional art forms, pushing all these artists into suburbs, and their anklets and shruti boxes never saw the light of the day after. I wish I could say that this isn’t the case anymore but a huge community of artists still get pushed out of it, for reasons other than competence. Of course, it is much better today than it was 50 years ago, with art forms being more inclusive of various communities and genders and with artists having a platform for their explorations through social media. Caste-based politics continue to be a matter of concern in these communities. Art cannot flourish with exclusivity, it has no meaning when it’s not all-pervasive, flowing from every nook and corner, depicting an alternate reality representing everyone from a liberated creative lens.
Balakrishna’s Passion and the Sacrifice of Purity:
As the plot goes by, you just cannot stop admiring this undying passion in such a young man. Balakrishna is insanely driven to make his art reach heights his bank balance couldn’t, the kind of guy who picks up a new language just to learn the dance form associated with it. He also understands the complexity of his situation.With his widowed mother being the sole breadwinner and funding his dance classes, he understands that such sponsorship comes with the underlined expectation of not letting her down. He tries his hand at commercial cinema, to help his mother out of such tricky monetary conditions but his morals leave him exactly where he is. When given a chance in a major feature film as a dancer, he couldn’t bring himself to sacrifice the sanctity of his art for money that he so dearly needed. This conflict between money and the purified preservation of traditional art forms has been present forever. Balu could have easily choreographed the song with all the touches (literally) that the producer needed but could he credit himself as the prodigy of a divine artform after? Indian Classical art forms are considered to be sacred, divine pieces that fell from heaven. This level of idolization and divinity attached to such forms make them unique, but there is always an impending fear of extinction of forms that endorse stagnation on the pretext of scriptural citing.
Madhavi, Krishna’s Muse:
Muse, every artist needs a muse, in and out of their works, driving them into the depths of the creative world. Balu’s muse in this film is Madhavi, played by Jaya Prada. I will take a moment here to express my awe for the beauty that Jaya Prada is, particularly in this movie. K. Vishwanth’s heroines add depth and meaning to his incredible writing, which is still rare in the Telugu Film Industry. Madhavi is Balu’s benefactor, his patron. As an art enthusiast ( read rich), Madhavi sees immense potential in Balu’s art that she seeks friendship with him and gets him into a very reputed all-India Dance Festival where his idol, Uday Shankar was also set to perform. She helps Balu prepare for the Dance Festival, both emotionally and financially, but all her efforts and all of Balu’s hard work towards the festival are pushed aside when his mother passes away just a day before his departure to the festival. Balu, once again, picks up his emotional distress over his official establishment in the dance world. Madhavi and Balu continue to spend time with each other, soon falling in love. Well, there is no happily ever after as Balu discovers that she is separated from her husband. He goes out of his way and fixes her marital problems, once again, sacrificing his chances of a better and happier life by getting Madhavi and her husband together and drowning his sorrows by turning to alcohol. With two of his biggest supporters gone, Balu sees no purpose in actively performing to an unknown audience. After all, who can see a purpose in praise when it cannot be shared with their own? Balu chooses to shun his creativity as a silent protest for giving up his muse. He settles down as an art critic in a local paper and spends his nights drunk dancing to the music in his head and wounds in his heart. His creative abilities only come back to him when Madhavi’s daughter, Sailaja, years later, becomes subject to his criticism of her performance.
Life as an art critic:
Balu gets severely criticised for giving a bad review for an artist of Sailaja’s stature and calibre. Balu has no tangible credibility, no government awards, and no royal patrons behind him to support his absolute disdain for Sailaja’s performance. It is incorrect to judge an artist based on objective and structured recognitions by entities that may or may not be aware of the nuances of such art forms. Girish Karnad was brutally criticised for saying that Rabindranth Tagore’s plays had no flair for the silver screen. Regardless of whether his statement makes sense or not, Karnad was looked down upon because of a lack of structured recognition of the same level as Ray. Subjective opinions in art stand valid when backed by objective recognitions, which seems quite ironic and if you don’t have such a backing, your criticism could likely be perceived as pure hatred.
Rekindled passion and the inevitable end:
Alcoholism is fun until it’s not. Balu gets admitted to the hospital, his health severely deteriorating given his extreme habits. Unable to afford the hospital fees, he agrees to teach Sailaja for a performance, only to discover that she is his dear Madhavi’s daughter, getting everything he couldn’t as an artist. Madhavi still is the same art patron that she once was, channelling all her energy and wealth into her daughter’s artistic career. Balu rekindles his passion for dance, despite being diseased. He trains Sailaja and dies watching her perform in his holy space, the stage.
Sagarasangamam is a phenomenally made movie with equal parts of commercial and artistic content. Kamal Hassan is the star and show of this movie after its story and its album of course. It is mighty bold of a mainstream actor like Kamal to portray someone who dances for a living, that too a classical art form. Kamal trained for a month in various classical art forms, missing out on any other film in the market, making it his greatest sacrifice for a film (put in his own words). K. Vishwanath as a director (my favourite) always had traditionally rooted themes with a conflicting modern background, featuring rebellion, rebirth and revival of art in such structured channels. Sagarasangamam was well-received by both critics and the masses. The movie rushed people not only into theatres but also into dance schools and traditional dramatic traditions. If I didn’t spoil it for you enough, I would urge you to watch it 🙂