Ghungroo Rings in the Fun and Funny

Dancing, playing, singing, and a little bit of self-deprecation (or cultural analysis, depending on how you look at it) marked Ghungroo 2006: A Cultural Celebration, which brought all of its color and joy to the Agassiz Theatre during its Mar. 2-4 run. Although it would be too much to say that the show went off without a hitch—problems of the technical variety, unfortunately, were plentiful—the 17th annual celebration of South Asian culture, produced by Alka R. Tandon ’07 and Arjun Vasan ’07 and directed by Saikat Chakrabarti ’07, Kamilka Malwatte ’07, and Tilottama Riya Sen ’07, overcame these difficulties with an infectious sense of fun.

Modern and classical acts alike took to the stage (and were often combined together), interspersed by a number of humorous interacts and one longer skit, entitled “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

From the beginning, the immense effort that went into the production was readily apparent, as was the overwhelming talent brought to the stage by a number of the performers. In the opening­­ number of the evening performance on Friday, classical dancers wore ankle bells­­­—the “ghungroo” that gives the show its name. In this dance known as Mallari, the performers’ stomping provides their own musical accompaniment, revealing the athleticism and strength necessary for many acts in the production.

The following number, a Marathi folk dance, combined male and female dancers and humorously pitted them against one another. In this work choreographed by Utpal N. Sandesara ’08, it was the women who proved to be the better dancers, but laughs were had by all. In later dances, like the semi-classical and the ever-popular bhangra, elements of modern and classical Indian culture and dance were combined quite successfully, allowing dancers, dressed beautifully in colorful clothing, to enjoy themselves and transmit that enjoyment to the audience.

The Senior Dance, performed and choreographed by members of the class of 2005, closed out the first act and was intricately staged considering the huge amount of dancers involved.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the whole night was not an act at all—it was the set. The gigantic jungle-scape—that was miraculously transformed into golden fields beneath a blue sky for the second act—made abundantly clear the immense amount of effort and care that went into the production. Complete with life-size sculpted elephants emerging from the backdrop, the Ghungroo set, in all its beauty and intricacy, deserves heaps of praise on its own.

The audience reacted quite well to a number of performances, but perhaps not as well as some acts would have hoped. Singers in the Qawwali love song “Ali Ali” performed quite well, but the audience was reluctant to respond to their urgings to clap along. Presumably to scare the audience into participating, the lighting staff flashed the lights on members in the crowd. Needless to say, it didn’t work.

Lighting and sound mishaps, while none of them major unto themselves, nonetheless became minor nuisances to a number of acts and interacts. Performers overcame the problems admirably, however, drawing laughs from the audience in interacts and the main skit alike.

A number of strong actors emerged in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?,” which revolved around an Indian family in America who receive a surprise visit from their relatives in India. Especially compelling­­—and humorous—performances were given by Vivek G. Ramaswamy ’07 and Varun K. Narendra ’07, who both played elder Indian family members.

Setting up yet another contrast between the old and new worlds of South Asian culture, the actors made a number of jabs on both sides of the line. Some jokes may have been a bit subtle for those unversed in Indian-American culture, while jokes about religion and race in South Asian culture, standards of Ghungroo skit comedy, drew laughs. Beneath these jokes lurked the conscience of a culture modernizing more slowly in some aspects than in others, but still, all comedy seemed well-intentioned and was, for the most part, quite well acted.

All performers seemed to enjoy themselves, creating an atmosphere that rendered the show enjoyable in its entirety—no small feat, considering that the show lasted just about three hours.

Ghungroo, sponsored by the Harvard South Asian Association, once again revealed why it sells tickets so well every year, allowing audience members and performers of all backgrounds (indeed, a surprising number of dancers and players were of apparently non-South Asian descent) to journey to the Subcontinent, if just for a night.

—Staff writer Henry M. Cowles can be reached at hmcowles@fas.harvard.edu