The Bhagvat Mela or the dance drama tradition was resurrected by the Natya Vidya Sangam of Melattur Bhagavata Mela on two premises: commemorating the patronage that Bhagvat Mela gained from Maratha rulers during the run up to the 17th century and to strengthen the camaraderie between the Tamilians and Maharashtrians in Pune. Shakuntal, the first Marathi sangeet natya performed by Natya Vidya Sangam, was originally composed by Bhausaheb Ekoji II, a Maratha royal in Thanjavur. “I have been doing plays since I was eight years old.It is a tradition preserved for more than 200 years and has been passed on from one generation to another. Shakuntal is an amalgam of dialogues, songs and dance, the latter performed in tune with the myriad songs incorporated in the play,” explains the director, Bhagavata Mahalingam.

The ancient form of Bharatanatyam has been reverentially integrated with classical Carnatic melodies in the play. “This is our first play in Marathi and the plays that preceded this were essentially in Telegu, written in the 17th century by Sri Venkatarama Shastri, a contemporary of Saint Tyagaraji, an eminent composer of Carnatic music,” says Murali Rangarajan, one of the singers in the play.

Natya Vidya Sangam has been performing plays since the last 250 years, invariably during Narsimha Jayanti that falls in the first week of May every year. “We have enacted numerous plays, pivotal among them are Prahlada Charitra, Harish Chandra, Rukmani Kalyanam, Usha Parinayam and Seeta Kalyanam,” adds Rangarajan. Shakuntal was procured from the Saraswati Mahal library, where the original script had been preserved by the Maratha ruler Sersoji, ruling Thanjavur during that era.

Belonging to the Tamilian culture and background, the actors consider it a blessing to have one of the vocalists who is a linguistic expert. “ He is a linguistic expert who worked in the Saraswati Mahal Library in the past, and has been sprucing up our diction and tone,” beams Bharatam S Nagrajan, who is playing the character of Shakuntal in the play. Spread over two-and-a-half hours, the play has no major modifications, even though the enactment was shortened to fit within the actual parameters