Bharatanatyam: Radhika Kathal depicts bonds of friendship in ‘Antarangam’

Radhika Kathal

 

On 6 December 2025, at the Triveni Kala Sangam, Radhika Kathal performed a solo Bharatnatyam piece titled ‘Antarangam’. Radhika is a dancer and Hindustani classical vocalist. She started her dance training under Dr. Sneha Chakradhar and continued under Guru Geeta Chandran at Natya Vriksha. She began her musical training under Milli Maitra and is currently a disciple of Dr. Soma Singh in the Gwalior gharana. She is also trained in nattuvangam and supports other dancers at their recitals. Over the past few years, I have seen her bloom into a wonderful person and a soloist and teacher of great standing. In fact, it is amazing how one guru, Geeta Chandran, has raised so many soloists who appear to have their own technique and appeal and yet, look just like a shadow of their guru in some way or the other, all very affable people and artists with their own kinds of perfections. Radhika runs her Kaladhwani Academy and teaches at various other institutions.

 

Radhika Kathal

As Radhika elaborated, for her, ‘Antarangam’ meant that which is close to her heart and soul, the inner circle of people and things, the bonds of friendship she has built. Her guru, Geeta Chandran, in 2014, had created a solo production called ‘Dooti Vilasam’ (https://delhiculturecomment.blogspot.com/2014/03/geeta-and-her-dancers-present.html), which was about friends who have inspired her and what role have they played in her life, their relationships and shared experiences. Radhika emphasized the camaraderie that she has shared with her guru, who had choreographed the production based on a concept her and Radhika. 

Guru Geeta Chandran on nattuvangam, K. Venkateshwaran on vocals, Manohar Balatchandirane on mridangam and G. Raghavendra Prasath on violin

The first section, titled ‘Threads of us’, explores the threads that bind and form an enduring base called friendship. In the early years, these bonds are special and have to be carefully crafted and nurtured. In fact, the friends that you choose make you what you are in the future. The music for this piece was by K. Venkateshwaran and G. Raghavendra Prasath. Radhika started by hailing her friends to come out and enjoy nature together. 

 

They playfully pluck fruits and enjoy eating and sharing them. They draw the hop-scotch on the floor and play by throwing a pebble – games that are becoming redundant now. In play, there were fights and tears over belongings or defeat in a game. Children get over their fights as easily as they get into them. They again start playing with clapping patterns. As they are playing, they lose track of time and feel scared as evening sets in. They are together when they see wild animals. When they are in the house together, they comb each other’s hair. One requests the other to stop tugging at her braid and be gentle. They admire themselves in the mirror. 

 

As they sit together to read books, they fall asleep on each other. In the classroom, they pass each other notes. They are partners in all mischief. When they dress up in saris together and wear ornaments, they admire each other and themselves in the mirror. They fetch flowers and string them. Suddenly, they hear the musical instruments from a procession. They run out to watch. One of them is so mesmerized that she loses herself in the music and the other nudges her back to wakefulness and tease her. The music for this piece was very catchy. 

The second piece was the central piece, a shringara tana varnam in raagam Karnataka kapi, rupak talam. It was composed by Maharaja Swathi Tirunal. In compositions like ashtapadis, the best friend is not just friend, but also a messenger to convey the nayika’s love to the nayak. She conveys their love and desperation and also dresses up both so that they brush away the pangs of pain in love. The pallavi conveyed the pain of the arrows shot by Kamadeva, the anupallavi conveyed that she is eager to meet and the time is just right. The charnam shows the sakhi pleading with the nayak, asking him to have pity on the nayika. 

Radhika, as the sakhi, goes to look for the nayak to give him the message. The nayika, meanwhile, is in anguish as she is struck by Kamadeva’s arrows. Radhika took various gestures and stances to show him shooting arrows after plucking flowers and rotating them in her hands. As she waits, the nayika readies her chamber, sprinkling flowers, stringing them and hanging up the strings. She imagines the nayak coming to her and kissing her as she dozes off. As the evening is ending, her heart flutters and she faces disappointment as he does not come. Radha tells the sakhi to go to the one who reclines on the Sesha with the lotus emerging from his navel. He is oblivious, she says, but the time is ripe for their union. 

 

Meanwhile, Radhika moved up and down the stage to show the counting of the time that has gone by painfully, waiting for him. The nayika plucks flowers and counts the petals to try her luck. She cries when she sees herself in a mirror. The birds chirping is noise to her, the wind is like snakes, flowers are scattered and ornaments too are no good. Taking a rotation on one foot, Radhika took the stance of Padmanabha, and in seconds, took the other stance of the sakhi, pleading with him to have mercy. 

Radhika is very adept at her nritta. Her nritta interludes were very crisp. She has grace and speed, flexibility and balance, bhava and expanse. Her squats, turns, back leg stretches and sideward stretches, her balance in leg lifts were all very neat. With side to side and front to back moves, coming right up to the edge of the stage and then diagonally crossing the stage in jatis to come to a sam, she displayed expansive stage coverage. Her footwork was forceful and hastas sharp. The recitation of the bols were supportive of her sharp nritta. She could squat and stand and squat again with the ease of a gymnast. She circled the stage with expansive moves. 

The next piece, ‘The broken bond’, was about upheavals in any friendship. Here, jealousy, mistrust and doubt overwhelm the fragile bonds of friendship. The padam has anger and sarcasm at its core, when companionship turns to suspicion. As it is said, these threads are very fragile. Here, the nayika suspects that in advocating for her, the sakhi has forged a closeness with the nayak. The composition was in raag Saveri, taal adi, composed by Ghanam Krishna Iyer. The nayika is suspicious of what exactly transpired between the two when her sakhi went to plead her case and the friendship is under threat from the imagined betrayal. 

Radhika depicted the nayika sitting and waiting for her friend, admiring herself in the mirror. When the sakhi returns, the nayika is restless to know what she has conveyed to the nayak: did you tell him about my emotions, my loneliness? That I have dressed myself and the bowers for him to come immediately, as promised? 

 

But soon, the nayika sees other tell-tale signs. She looks at her friend carefully from head to toe – her hair is ruffled, with a few flowers hanging from them. She smells of the nayak, her cheeks and bindi are smudged with the kasturi of his tilak. Her lips are also smudged. 

Radhika portrayed the expressions of a jealous woman very sensitively when she accuses her of making out with him. That is when the friendship comes to a breaking point. 

Finally, things must end on a good note. The sakhi or friend goes to the nayika and makes up with her when the misunderstanding is discovered. The steadfast relationship sees a renewal, not just repair. This piece was presented through a Hindustani bandish originally composed by Kumar Gandharva in raag Bageshree, reimagined in raag Kedar by K. Venkateshwaran. This was followed by a tillana in raag Hamir Kalyani. 

The nayika picks up a notebook and writes a letter to her friend, kisses it, covers her face and cries, wipes her face and tells her friend, let’s go back to what we were like – playing, clapping, drawing hop-scotch and sharing fruits plucked together. 

 

The tillana was again a testament to Radhika’s technique; her footwork and hastas were precise. She moved with stamina and style, attitude and expanse, and precise moves. The sakhi and the nayaki swayed together in Radhika’s moves. This was a very well-conceptualized performance. 

Pics: Anoop Arora