This is my second post on RASA Day 2024. I played the role of Kavyakantha Ganapathi Muni, a well-known scholar and poet and a devotee of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. I enjoyed playing this role. I have learned about Sri Ramana Maharshi and his devotees in the last year through music, dance, storytelling, and drama. Thus, I felt happy that I got an opportunity to play the role of Ganapati Muni.
In my previous post, I talked about recording for my role. Later, Dr. Vaishnavi Poorna (Deputy director of RASA) sent us a picture where she completely changed the background so it looked like Ganapati Muni’s home. I was surprised that she could magically transform the look of the video using multimedia. In this post, I have described the complete process from preparation to recording and final production. It was a great learning experience to observe this entire process.
About Bharatambe
Written and directed by Dr. Ambika Kameshwar, “Bharatambe!” offers a journey through India’s national symbols, interwoven with stories of revered saints like Neem Karoli Baba, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Nanak, Padmapadacharya, Swami Narayanan, and others. Dr. Ambika Kameshwar, also the composer, has crafted a rich musical score to accompany the performances.
The Recording Process and My Experience
This was the first time my part for the RASA Day was a dramatic monologue, so it was different from my previous RASA Day experiences.
I had to synchronize with the pre-recorded audio – rendered by Sri G Kameshwar, so Ms Usha Sankaran had to teach me to lip sync with Mr Kameshwar’s words. I also had to learn many gestures to play my role.
Preparing for the Recording
- G Kameshwar: He did the audio recording of Ganapati Muni’s dialogue.
- Vaishnavi Poorna: She sent the audio recordings.
- Ambika Kameshwar sent the text.
- Usha Sankaran: She coached me on the gestures and how to lip sync.
- Ananth Raghunandan: I had to learn from Usha akka and practice
Please note that playing with Freddie the cat was not a part of my role, but it was relaxing to play with Freddie while practicing. Hence, I included that moment in the picture.
- Dasaratha Rama: She helped me practice and also helped me prepare the cue cards. Since I prepared in a very short time, I could not fully memorize the gestures.
Day of the Recording
Getting Ready
- Anandi akka: She gave me the costume.
- Makeup man: He put on the wig and he had to put on my wig and a beard and applied the makeup.
I felt very hot, but I still had to do my role. I have never worn a beard before RASA Day 2024. The wig was more uncomfortable than the beard.
Recording
- Ananth Raghunanadan
I had to lip sync with an audio recording. I also had to do body movements and hand gestures.
- Dasaratha Rama
My mom’s role was to show me the cue cards.
- Ambika
Ambika akka’s role was to direct. She was instructing the camera man and Josephine on what to do. She was also telling me what gestures to do when certain cue words came.
After the Recording
- Vaishnavi Poorna: She has to spend many hours editing the video, adding the audio, and adding images, and creating a final recording for RASA Day 2024.
I was surprised that Poorna akka had completely transformed the setting so it looked like Ganapati Muni’s home. It looks completely different from the studio where we taped it.
- I am writing blog posts about my experiences at RASA and with TAHD. Since I had already finished my part of the performance, I could watch the complete show and can write more blogs.
- My mother has been sharing information in her parent groups.
In this post, I described the process from preparing for the recording, actual recording, and after the recording. I saw how many people were involved in just producing my recording. Thus, I can imagine how much time and effort must have gone in to the production. I thank Dr. Ambika Kameshwar for giving me the opportunity to perform in this production. I look forward to participating in future productions.
Parent Note:
Writing this post was a useful experience for Ananth and me. We reflected in depth on our RASA Day experiences. Throughout my career as a professor, we were made aware of the importance of reflection in the experiential learning process. We appreciate the opportunities that Dr. Ambika has provided for Ananth to reflect on his learning and share it through the blog.