Dancer-actor Sithara Balakrishnan performed Mohiniyattam at the Nishagandhi Dance Festival recently. Sithara, who played Neeli in the stage adaptation of the Malayalam classic Neelakuyil, spoke to us about her performance and her experience of being part of the play.




'My performance featured the struggles faced by women'



There were three items in my presentation. I follow the Sopanam style of Mohiniyattam, inspired by Kavalam Narayana Panicker , and the particular pieces were choreographed by Kanak Rele , who is an exponent of this format.I chose all the pieces from my guru’s repertoire because I want this format to be popularised, along with Kanak Rele ma’am’s body-kinesthetic approach to dance.



My third piece was based on Kubja, inspired by a poem by Sitakant Mahapatra , which was translated into Malayalam by Kavalam . I chose this piece because it represents Indian women. The hunch of Kubja is not merely a physical defect; it symbolises the burdens women face from men and society. Even today, we see attacks and a lack of justice for women — these issues have existed since time immemorial. Some women may not even recognise that they are living in pain or stress; they could be within our own families. Many walk with a ‘hunch’ of responsibilities and silent struggles.







'Theatre requires more concentration'



Acting in Neelakuyil happened rather coincidentally. I had previously acted in CV Premkumar’s television serial Avasthantharam in 1995–96 on Doordarshan, which was also my debut. Almost 25 years later, he called me again for the play. I had never acted in a play before this.The play became a big asset for the dancer in me. In theatre, there are dialogues, voice modulation, and live acting — it requires intense concentration.



The month-long study camp for the play was very helpful. We had to learn the dialogues thoroughly — there was no prompting involved. I had to play Neeli with everything in me. If you have seen the film, you would know that Neeli is a very innocent girl who is betrayed. As the play progressed without pauses, and since I delivered all the dialogues myself, I slowly became her.



It is not possible for me to be part of plays continuously, as I am primarily a dancer and have been working in the field for over 40 years. We have staged Neelakuyil twice so far. It is not a play that can be performed on every stage; it is meant more for film-literary platforms, so the schedules are not very rushed.