CHENNAI: A textbook can tell you what happened. Art can make you feel what happened. That is the idea behind the fifth edition of Itihaas Ke Pannon Se, a multidisciplinary performance by Heritage Stories & Performing Arts (HSPA), which will bring lesser-known stories from Tamil Nadu’s freedom struggle to the stage through Villupattu, storytelling, music, Bharatanatyam and visual art.
Curated by performance artist and HSPA founder Sarita Nair, the production will be presented on August 16 at Rukmini Arangam, Kalakshetra Foundation. After travelling to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Vizag, the fifth edition turns its focus to Tamil Nadu’s history of resistance and the artistic traditions of the region.
“Itihaas Ke Pannon Se has always come from the need to look beyond the history and people that we already know. What are the stories sitting on the farthest shelf of our history books that deserve to be brought into the light?" says Sarita.
Rather than presenting these histories as conventional retellings, Sarita sees the different art forms as different languages telling the same story. Villupattu makes a story conversational; storytelling allows audiences to enter a person’s emotional world, music adds another layer of feeling, while Bharatanatyam communicates through movement and expression.
The evening will feature Villupattu by Kalaimamani Bharathi Thirumagan and Kalaimamani T Kalaimagan, storytelling by Dr VR Devika on Khadi as a freedom fighter, Songs of Freedom by vocalist Shreya Ramnath accompanied by live painting by Satwik Gade, and a Bharatanatyam piece on a lesser-known freedom fighter by students of Rukminidevi Natyakshetra.
For Sarita, the focus extends beyond the individuals who fought in the freedom struggle. The production also looks at ideas and everyday objects that became symbols of resistance, with Khadi and the charkha taking centre stage.
“I believe it is a beautiful way of shifting the lens. It makes us look at the freedom movement not just through people, but also through the ideas, objects and everyday acts that became part of the struggle,” she says.
The approach also draws from traditional ways of preserving history through song, dance and oral storytelling. “I don't see performing arts as an addition to history. I see them as an extension of the way history has always been remembered,” Sarita says.
For younger audiences, Sarita hopes the performances make history feel personal rather than distant. “I hope they feel that history belongs to them too,” she says, adding that she would rather have a young viewer leave with one story that stays with them than ten facts they might forget.
Perhaps that curiosity could lead them to ask their grandparents about the past, look up a freedom fighter they had never heard of, or even see a handloom sari or a piece of Khadi differently.
After five editions across different cities, Sarita says the project has also changed how she understands the freedom movement. She has come to see these stories not as forgotten, but as histories that continue to live in people’s memories, songs, communities, art forms and oral traditions. “I no longer see it as something that belongs to the past. I see it as a living continuum,” she concludes.
Itihaas Ke Pannon Se – Fifth Edition will be held on August 16, from 6 pm onwards at Rukmini Arangam, Kalakshetra Foundation. Tickets are available through MDnD Entertainment and the HSPA website.