The difference of opinion as regards the title should not however detract from the exhaustive effort that entailed the staging of Valmiki’s Ramayana in its original form, albeit abridged, by means of episodes from each chapter. It was a well-researched work, with ideas gathered from the Kamban Ramayana, and inspirations from other art forms like Koodiyattam. There were many memorable moments that linger in memory: in the Bala kandam, when Rama and Sita exchange a look of happiness when Rama breaks the bow, Chitra’s impersonation of both characters simultaneously with just a slight shift in stance was masterly-subtle yet obvious, reminiscent of Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj’s Krishna and Radha; the showdown between Kaikeyi and Dasaratha in the Ayodhya kandam was a powerful, intense moment of anguish well built up, unfortunately broken by the dancer’s prompting towards the orchestra, but the central character of Sita in love, despair and later anger, was portrayed the most sensitively of all.

Chitra aesthetically dressed with minimal ornamentation gave a spirited display with her energetic brahmaris and jumps visible all evening. Her expansive movements cover the stage so effortlessly and featured in the swara interludes in the Ramayana, recurring in the lively thillana; they were executed with light-heartedness and her customary exuberance.

The solo recital began with an invocation to Surya, an embodiment of white light that is made up of seven colours, and until the concluding thillana in Rasikapriya ragam composed by Visweswaran, an ode to god conceptualised as sound, the theme of accentuating the number seven was maintained. Sandwiched in between was the mammoth Rama Katha, the seven chapters composed in seven ragas and set in the sapta sooladi talas by the violin maestro Lalgudi G.Jayaraman.

The expert orchestra did not seem to pull together well that day. R.Visweswaran and Uma Namboodaripad were excellent, the former especially soulful in the opening Saurashtra Dikshitar Keerthana, ’Sooryamoorthe’ and in the following Bala kandam and Sundara kandam, but neither of the singers were responsive to Chitra’s delineations. Sukanya Ravinder on the nattuvangam and Jagadish Janardhan on the mridangam were exemplary especially in the complicated talamalika Ramayana. Special effects by Parthasarathy were inaudible; the rest of the orchestra comprised of: veena Bhavani Prasad, violin Veeramani, flute, Sankaranarayanan, and tambura Muniswamy. It just goes to show how much the team needs to work together to make a programme a success.