Eye of the storm.

'The wink song' as most non-Malayalis are calling it, stirred up a huge controversy with calls for its ban, police complaints and even the apex court being seized of the matter after overnight internet sensation Priya Prakash Varrier, who stars in the song, sought quashing of FIRs lodged against her and the filmmakers by offended fringe groups. Irrespective of how this plays out, it has clearly underlined once again the primacy the non-verbal, especially eye gestures hold, in the way this sub-continent communicates.

One of India's most celebrated contemporary poets, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator Ranjit Hoskote says, “In the traditions of the Indian subcontinent, there has been a strong emphasis on the articulation of feeling through the entire range of the sensorium - using not only explicitly spoken discourse but also the sensuous discourse of the non-verbal, the vocabulary of gestures that are described as abhinaya in classical Indian dance. Such gestures, especially through the use of the eyes and the hands, point towards complex feelings and sensations. They work below and across the threshold of linguistic cognition.” He should know considering how the image of the eyes - as offering a troubled sovereign perspective, as conveying a bibliography of the senses, as scope and horizon – keeps recurring in his poetry.

Kolkatan socio-cultural historian Meghna Kashyap calls it the greatest equaliser. “Irrespective of region, language or dialect, eye gestures and body language give even those unfamiliar with the culture and language of the region a sense of what's being said,” she says. She mentions her late old aunt who could not read/write. “She watched all award-winning South Indian films screened on Sunday afternoons on Doordarshan through the early 80s and 90s. Since she'd lived in Murshidabad on the Bangladesh border all her life, I'd be surprised as a young collegian to see her watch all the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. Once while watching the Tamil film Sindhu BhairaviI cockily asked her (despite myself depending on subtitles) if she understood what was going on. And guess what? She told me the entire story till then with the subplot too. All this, merely on based on eye gestures and facial expressions!”

According to her it’s classic Indian ingenuity that has helped develop this trait. “Every 5-6 miles even within a state/region the spoken language picks up different lilts, idioms and phrases, often intrinsic to that context. It’d be fantastically superhuman for everyone to understand everything being said and yet they do because of a common grammar of expressions and gestures.”

Dance of the eye

Nearly 1,700 km away in Chennai, Kashyap's views find an echo in renowned Bharatanatyam exponent and guru Malavika Sarukkai who reminds, “Let's not forget that the eyes are the mirror of the soul.” The dance doyenne adds, “Sringara literature is full of references to the myriad moods the eyes can convey. Indian classical dance forms have borrowed these to suit their own grammar, style and context to create variations which are now institutionalised as gurus hand them down to their shishyas.”

Coincidentally she had just put together a specially choreographed dance concert called Darshanam in Delhi on February 25th. “In that choreography, I not only look at mere eyes and seeing but take it beyond to talk about vision. The moment you bring in that nuance, a spiritual paradigm opens up. The idea of seeing and being seen by the Divine is so liberating especially given how close it brings the soul to everlasting salvation.” According to Sarukkai, the eyes are a channel not only of sight but emotions too. “Look at our navarasas: sringara (love), haasya (joy), adbhuta (wonder), veera (courage), shanta (peace), karuna (sadness) , raudra (anger), bhayanaka (fear), bibhatsa (disgust). As a dancer when I depict these, it is the eyes which first set the tone for the rest of the body to follow,” she explains but admits, “When you begin, training one's eyes to express a certain bhava can be very difficult. One is baffled when the teacher first asks you to put the energy of what is to be conveyed into one's eyes. It is only when you later internalise dance, after years of practice that it becomes a part of your natural vocabulary.”

Such eye movements (drishti bheda) is the vocabulary used to express various bhavas. While sama has the dancer hold her/his eye still without movement, in alokita s/he rolls the eye balls in a circular pattern. Saachi has the dancer looking through the corner of her/his eyes, pralokita has the eyes move side to side while nimilita is a half shut eye position that focuses the eyeball inwards. In light of the latter, Sarukkai mentions “the eye of the mind” which the scriptures mention. “All this sadhana or mindful practice is about making that eye open even if momentarily so that it sees and helps you experience an epiphany.”

And that is why she says dance forms like Kudiyattam and Kathakali use really elaborate eye makeup depending on the character the dancer is playing. “In Bharatanatyam too, over the years, as we perform to larger audiences, eye makeup has got more and more pronounced. If you look at old photographs of legends like Tanjore Balasaraswati you'll notice the eye makeup was more subtle and suited to chamber concerts of yore. Today if I gesture with my eyes, I have to ensure it reaches the thousandth person sitting in the last row.”

While emphasising how a specialised vocabulary of eye gestures is part of the dance grammar irrespective which classical or folk genre one speaks of she points out how this is in no way limited to dance alone. “Stuck in a traffic jam while driving I recently came upon a scooterist who was guiding me how to manouvre out of a really tricky spot from outside. Since the windows were rolled up he was well out of earshot. All I could see were his eyes and eyebrows directing me and yet we could communicate beautifully and I could drive away after indicating a thank you only with my eyes.”

Serenading with song

Nearly 1,200 km in Pune, veteran classical vocalist of the Kirana gharana Prabha Atre points out how such celebration of the eye and its expression is also an intrinsic part of Hindustani classical and semi-classical musical compositions too. “Conservative norms disallowed not only any public display of affection or intimacy. Over a period this created an entire grammar of conveying what one wants to say with the eyes. That has then gone onto find romantic expression in the arts too,” says the legend, who has herself composed several bandishes dedicated to the eyes and vision.

Further down in Mumbai well-known thumri exponent Dhanashree Pandit Rai often opens a thumri with a sher instead of a conventional alaap since “words draw audiences in rather beautifully.” A favourite is: “Nazar oonchi kar lee toh dua ban gayi / nazar neechi kar lee toh haya ban gayi / nazar tirchi kar lee toh adaa ban gayi / nazar pher lee toh qaza ban gayi (When you glance up it seems like a prayer / your lowered glance suggests coyness / the sidelong glance suggests stylised grace / But if you look away it will mean certain death).

According to her some of the best thumris that have come down to us as a musical legacy like Ras Ke Bhare Tore Nain, Nazariya Ki Maari celebrate the eyes, seductive glances and the beloved's gaze for a reason: “The meeting of eyes is a first step of seduction, the courtesan culture nurtured this through such compositions embellished with stylised dance and graceful gestures. That has made them timeless as successive generations have drunk on their intoxication.”

Here she differentiates between the ghazal and thumri saying that while the former is about the male gaze the latter is always about the female one. “The assertion of female sexuality in some of these thumris can often seem far ahead of even our 'progressive' times. Courtesans unshackled by patriarchal norms found nothing wrong in giving expression to their own desires about what their eyes coveted, unabashedly.”

Sculpting & Art

Across the city, in the northern suburb of Andheri, Jay Shirgaonkar a third generation legatee of India's most well-known family of sculptors is busy working a bronze bust of a family matriarch commissioned by one of the city's leading corporate families. “Giving the eyes a feminine look that conveys both nurturance and leadership was a challenge,” he says adding, “The eyes of a statue are more important than the body. The detailing requires precision since it can make/mar the entire work. Given that we work on the eyes, in the end, this can be a huge risk.”

It seems hard to imagine a mere concave depression that depicts the eyes with another one in the centre depicting the pupil requires so much effort. The 33-year-old Shirgaonkar laughs: “Try working on a clay idol and see. You’ll notice that the eye takes the longest to create.” Along with his father, he has created several of the Shivaji Maharaj statues that adorn the length and breadth of the country. “With Shivaji, we give him a gaze that suggests leadership, foresight and also equanimity. But the moment you work on a statue of his son Sambhaji, the ferocious fearless aggression that marked his persona has to come through in the eyes.”

He says that the most challenging work he was commissioned was that of Shivaji's warrior general and commander Baji Prabhu. “This is a man who gave up his life with a handful of men to protect Shivaji who was being chased by the Bijapur army led by the Abyssinian general Siddi Johar. He threw away his shield and fought with a sword in both hands,” recounts Shirgaonkar. “While he fought on bravely he was also getting weary and desperate to hear the cannon fire off from Vishalgad to indicate Shivaji was safe,” Shirgaonkar says to get the look in his eyes right he got well-known balladeer and creator of several fictionalised works around Shivaji's life and times, Babasaheb Purandare to come down to his Andheri studio for inputs. “Babasaheb's recreation of that event gave me the inspiration to create the brave warrior's eyes,” he recounts.

He also admits getting the meditative compassion in the eyes of a Buddha/Gandhi statue can be really tough. “Look at the statue at Rajghat. It almost feels like Gandhi’s eyes will move any moment. That kind of perfection is any sculptor's dream.” While he does not take on any religious sculptures he admits that there too achieving the perfect beatific look is very important. “While I have brought a touch of that to my work depicting Buddha, deities can be another kind of ball game altogether.” 

Kashyap also speaks of the how important the eyes are in paintings. “Whether it is the expressive eyes which suggest the mood in miniatures, the beatific eyes of deities in Raja Ravi Varma paintings or that of Jamini Roy's paintings with large pronounced eyes we see artistes belabour the depiction with great care. If making the eye look human is tough to imagine the tantric paintings which depict the third eye of Shiva.”

The film song

Hoskote says the abundance of reference to the eyes in film songs, whether in the glorious years when Urdu and Hindi poets composed lyrics or even in contemporary times, draws powerfully on a deep and wide river of Indian literature and poetry that celebrates the body, the seasons, the connection between the senses and the landscape. “Below our film music, there flow the currents of thumri, kajri, tappa, and chaiti in which the wordless yet compelling rhetoric of the eyes features in amazing ways.”

Kashyap too speaks of this abiding theme that Hindi film lyricists have kept on revisiting to create everything from bhajans, qawwalis, love songs, item numbers and more to give us some of the most well known songs that we know.

“Think of - Darshan do ghanshyam nath meri ankhiyan pyaasi re, Teri Ankhon Ke Siwa Duniya Mein Rakha Kya Hai, O Nigah-e-Nastaana, Dekh Samaa Hai Suhana, Ankhon Hee Ankhon Mein Ishara Ho Gaya, Gulabi Ankhein Jo Teri Dekhi, Akhiyon Ke Jharokon Se, Surmayi Ankhiyon Mein, Roz Roz Ankhon Taley, Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas, Ankhon Ki Gustakhiyan Maaf Ho, Nainon Ki Mat Maaniyo Re, Ankhon Mein Teri Ajab Si Jab Se Tere Naina Mere Naino Se Laage Re- each of these songs evokes eyes in a different context beautifully,” says she.

Just then the radio pays tribute to the actress Sridevi who recently passed away with a song from her hit film Himmatwala making the connection Hoskote speaks of... As Lata Mangeshkar croons Nainon Mein Sapna, Sapnon Mein Sajana, Sajana Pe Dil Aa Gaya, you shut your eyes and smile imagining how Priya Prakash Varrier would use her eyes to enact that 'pots and pans' song on screen…