Cinema is the only successful commercial art form: Rana Daggubati

Hyderabad : Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO) organized a talk on ‘The Art of Storytelling’ here at Hyderabad today.

Actor Rana Daggubati spoke on the the art of storytelling through cinema while Actress and acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar spoke on the art of storytelling through dance. Speaking at the program, Actress and acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar said that to me stories began on my grandmother’s lap. The stories that we hear in our mother’s / grandmother’s lap are the most memorable ones. Women create a lot of stories throughout their lives.

Stories build personalities and character. A lot of things children learn when growing up is through stories. Everything in our culture is told through stories. Stories are said in different art forms in different ways. In dance, the only thing that propels us is emotion. Compared to theatre / dance, where there is stage, sets, costumes, etc. in dance there is no change of clothes, set, the dancer is even not allowed to speak. Everything is said through your emotions and the body.

Further, Rukmini said that the dancer in Bharatanatyam tells the stories expressing emotions through her face and to a little extent her body. In Indian classical dances especially Bharatanatyam, the expression of emotions through the face is predominant whereas in western dances expression is through the body, Rukmini said. Rukmini showcased bits of both Bharatanatyam and western ballet dance much to the delight of the audience.

Rana Daggubati spoke on the occasion on the art of storytelling through cinema. He said that Cinema is the keeper of the arts. It is the only successful commercial art form. Talking about the movie ‘Baahubali’, Rana said that Baahubali changed how we look at movies and how we make movies. Baahubali was very Indian in craft, in storytelling, etc. which resonated with the audience. There are now movies being made such as Hiranyakashipu, Raja Marthanda, Rani Jhansi, etc. So many people are coming forward to tell stories now. There are so many different ways of telling stories. Signing off, Rana said that we all try to capture moments in time, but time it temporary, films and stories are forever.

Rana spoke about how he started out in the film industry with special effects. Speaking about the evolution of the cinema, Rana said that earlier when Kings rules they encouraged arts, it all changed when the Lumiere brothers who discovered cinema which was basically screening moving images on a screen. Cinema brought together all different art forms. With different technologies, we are trying to bring back the culture and stories of India to the screen. There are so many different ways of telling stories. We are telling stories through different mediums such as film, web and television. Now we have 3D, VR (Virtual Reality) and Augmented Reality (AR). I am working closely with VR technology, Rana said.

Answering a question from the audience on what will be the title, if you have to tell your own story someday, Rana replied that the title will be ‘Storyteller’. On being asked which role was the most challenging, Rana said that it is only in the present that you are in a role, after that when you see it on the screen it seems like somebody else is there. So every role is beautiful when you are enacting it, he said.

Dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar replying to query from the audience, “What story you would like to leave behind for the generations to come?” said that I want to dance everyday and hope to leave dance in others. I hope my students become way better than me and tell stories in a way that have never been told before.

Earlier, Sandhya Raju, Chairperson of YFLO, Hyderabad Chapter welcoming the gathering said that FICCI Ladies Organisation is all about women’s empowerment. We want to empower our members through learning and knowledge. That is why we have organized this talk for the benefit of our members. We want to show how one can create and influence change through the art of storytelling.