Rasika to Hamlet the Clown Prince

The Art of Creating Balance and Harmony 

It was an act I had longed to watch for a long time. Chowdiah Memorial Hall was teeming with people and a serpentine queue. All this energy looked promising,  I even spotted Rajat Kapoor a few times and he smiled at me, by then I was definite I am going to love this play! How wrong I was to have made that assumption. 

Read my experience here - 

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I came back with three fundamental questions after I was done with this experience. 

1. What is the role of harmony and balance in creation? 
2. Can a complete art experience happen when one Rasa overshadows all other narratives?
3. What is the act of balance, and what does balance do to my thinking/ knowing mind? 

In one of his interviews, Ashok Vajpeyi says, “I think Bollywood has done the most damage because it has simplified reality. It made very simplistic films based on the limited perception of what is happening around and of beauty as well. Also, it has made people go away from true visual arts. It has created the notions that the truth of art can be perceived by consumption. You see a samosa on a plate, and you can eat it straight away. The truth of art is not given like that. You have to make an effort. I say that poetry is a half-truth. Its truth is completed when you, the reader or the listener add a bit of your truth to it. There are many interpretations possible of the same poem because each one would have a different truth added to it. But if you are reduced to a passive mass of people, watching a simplistic version of reality you are further diminishing an already disinherited people.” 

I think the above quote pretty much sums up all my issues with Hamlet the Clown Prince. That my imaginative, meaning-making, metaphorical mind was reduced to a person having to laugh through comical situations, which did not allow for any other feelings to emerge made this a very underwhelming art experience.  I was situated merely in the present, in the reality of today. Imagination and metaphors allow in me a simultaneous experience of the past, present, and an anticipated future! I missed this resonance, the Dhawni immensely.  

Balance - How much is too much? 

Balance is core to creation. Be it in the natural world or in crafted experiences, we are all subconsciously seeking and appreciating balance (which works for each of us). The Rasa theory talks of creating dialogues between words, rhythm, silences, ideas, and emotions to choreograph a meaningful whole. But when one emotion overpowers all, balance is toppled. The residue with this play for me was momentary laughter and no intuitive heartfelt relationship. 

Balance in the creation of 'Thinking & Knowing' 

In my initial understanding I had defined-'Thinking as guided thought towards creating meaning, and 'Knowing' as embodied experiences that result in meaning creation.’ 

Throughout Hamlet The Clown Prince, I was ‘Thinking’ more than ‘Knowing’ my meanings were being formulated based on what was put out before me, mostly through immediate reactions with no undercurrents of the past, present, or future. These reactions were directed by the way the story was told, and I could ‘understand’ the humour only in one way. There was no internalising of meaning from nuances or creating new meaning through individual imagination. This play was directed towards creating only one emotion in me, in this case laughter. None of the other senses of inquiry or experience were sought. 

A moving art experience does more — drawn from the audience and create a collaborative journey while situating the audience within it. Sahridhaya (an outcome of ‘knowing’ as I am coming to believe) can only be achieved when art is created using proportion, harmony and balance through creative imagination.  

My immediate reactions after watching the play.