Crazy about RamanaGayatri - Gayathri Girish
Crazy about RamanaGayatri
I have always thought Crazy Mohan means laughter and spot on humour, but today I realised that there is more to this man than people associated him with.
I attended a programme which was quite different in its flow. It was a Carnatic music concert based on Crazy Mohan's 'Ramanayana' in Tamil, a poetical biography of Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi.
Apparently Crazy Mohan read a book about Ramana Maharshi's life back to back and it impressed him so much, that it motivated him to write all through the night, this marvelous poetry or was it prose?
It was set to Carnatic Music by Rajkumar Bharati and the icing on the cake was Gayathri Girish and her sincere singing.
One could not ignore that this was not a regular concert where some popular, some rare, some racy, songs are put together keeping the audience interest in mind. This programme was not intended to get people's eyeballs or applause, but instead it was meant as a tribute to Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi and his philosophy, it was meant to strike a devotional chord among the audience and churn their emotions!!
Ramana Maharshi's life was segmented into different Kaandams like in Ramayana, Bala Kaandam, Anbargal Kaandam and so on, intercepted with Bhagawan's teaching termed as Bhagwan Uvacha. All of this was sung beautifully by Gayathri, supported ably by N C Bharadwaj on Mrindagam, B. Ananthakrishnan on the violin and Sujith.S.Nair on the flute.
They had woven many ragams, starting with Kedaram (was reminded of the film song 'Sundari Neeyum Sundaram Nannum’ from the film 'Michael Madana Kaamraj‘, which had a brilliant screenplay by again, the same Crazy Mohan.)
Her Abhogi was simply lovely followed by Bilahari, SuddhaDhanyasi, SuddhaSaveri, Vachaspati as a Ragamalika.
It was an experience which was blissful and maybe because everything about this programme was standing on one fundamental thing - call it 'Bhakti,’ call it devotion.. it was crafted with only that, by all the people who curated this programme.
Thankfully Crazy Mohan was around when they first put up this show earlier this year!
I attended a programme which was quite different in its flow. It was a Carnatic music concert based on Crazy Mohan's 'Ramanayana' in Tamil, a poetical biography of Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi.
Apparently Crazy Mohan read a book about Ramana Maharshi's life back to back and it impressed him so much, that it motivated him to write all through the night, this marvelous poetry or was it prose?
It was set to Carnatic Music by Rajkumar Bharati and the icing on the cake was Gayathri Girish and her sincere singing.
One could not ignore that this was not a regular concert where some popular, some rare, some racy, songs are put together keeping the audience interest in mind. This programme was not intended to get people's eyeballs or applause, but instead it was meant as a tribute to Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi and his philosophy, it was meant to strike a devotional chord among the audience and churn their emotions!!
Sadly, this program could be termed as a tribute to Crazy Mohan, whose premature death has certainly left a void in the field of creativity. Crazy Mohan, as his name suggests, is famed for his slapstick comedy and spoofs and personally I was pleasantly surprised to see this dimension to his talent.
Ramana Maharshi's life was segmented into different Kaandams like in Ramayana, Bala Kaandam, Anbargal Kaandam and so on, intercepted with Bhagawan's teaching termed as Bhagwan Uvacha. All of this was sung beautifully by Gayathri, supported ably by N C Bharadwaj on Mrindagam, B. Ananthakrishnan on the violin and Sujith.S.Nair on the flute.
They had woven many ragams, starting with Kedaram (was reminded of the film song 'Sundari Neeyum Sundaram Nannum’ from the film 'Michael Madana Kaamraj‘, which had a brilliant screenplay by again, the same Crazy Mohan.)
Her Abhogi was simply lovely followed by Bilahari, SuddhaDhanyasi, SuddhaSaveri, Vachaspati as a Ragamalika.
It was an experience which was blissful and maybe because everything about this programme was standing on one fundamental thing - call it 'Bhakti,’ call it devotion.. it was crafted with only that, by all the people who curated this programme.
Thankfully Crazy Mohan was around when they first put up this show earlier this year!
About the Author:
Sandhya Shankar belongs to a well respected business family in Chennai. She is a Life Skills & Corporate Trainer by profession. She is an avid reader and a natural writer, who has written several poems and articles. She even presented her poems as a reading at the British council. She has keen interest in all art forms and has explored many different forms of painting like stained glass and Tanjore being among them.
Music being her first passion, she had her formal training under Terakotti Chandrasekharaiah at Bangalore and later briefly under Mrs Champa Kumar. She is a regular visitor of concerts, theatre and other live performances. Her witty reviews have gained a loyal and interactive readership for their sound technical commentary and relevance for every kind of melophile, from the casual-goer to the ragam expert, frequenting Chennai’s rich music scene.
(*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Music of Madras.)
Music being her first passion, she had her formal training under Terakotti Chandrasekharaiah at Bangalore and later briefly under Mrs Champa Kumar. She is a regular visitor of concerts, theatre and other live performances. Her witty reviews have gained a loyal and interactive readership for their sound technical commentary and relevance for every kind of melophile, from the casual-goer to the ragam expert, frequenting Chennai’s rich music scene.
(*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Music of Madras.)
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