Themed-golu balances contemporary, traditional flavours
To commemorate the 13th-year Navaratri celebration at her house, Nandhini came up with 13 themes, striking a balance between traditional and modern golu.
Mylapore Trio in their Sumukham Illam (Hemanathan M)
CHENNAI: Spread across 8,000 sq ft on three floors, Nandhini Venkatesh’s Nirvignalakshmi Illam in Nolambur was filled with festive spirit.
To commemorate the 13th-year Navaratri celebration at her house, Nandhini came up with 13 themes, striking a balance between traditional and modern golu.
A six-foot idol exhibiting all the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu is a major attraction. She also explains that women will be the driving force in all these avatars. “‘Unaccomplished Desire’ theme is personal to me because it’s a rangoli of actor-filmmaker late Manobala with a veena as a tribute to him,” shares Nandhini, who is Manobala’s brother’s daughter. “Through my golu, I also want to help the traditional doll-making artisans expand their business.”
A rangoli of the late actor Manobala at Nandhini’s home (Hemanathan M)
She opines that through innovative and contemporary themes, the younger generation will be more attracted to golu, which will make it easier to teach them about traditions. “I completely support golu with a modern touch. If the aim is to take our traditions to the next generation, using contemporary methods is the best way to go,” she adds.
For keeping it purely traditional, you have the siblings Amarnath, Surendranath, and Aparna, popularly known as the Mylapore Trio, who came up with yet another themed golu at their Sumukham Illam. “We began experimenting with themed-golu 20 years ago. Back then, it was a unique concept,” says Amarnath.
The trio had opportunities to set up golu at various famous temples across the state like Kapaleeshwarar Temple in Chennai, Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, and Srirangam’s Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple.
Their previous golu themes include Shanmatham, Panchabootham, Sri Vaishnavam and Ramanuja Mangalam, among others. They also conduct golu and puja workshops.
This year, they had their theme set as Pancha Padi Oonjal, which has five swings, one above the other in a pyramid-like look. Amarnath strongly disagrees with the idea of incorporating current affairs and films in golu themes.
“There is a difference between golu and exhibition. We keep golu to teach Indian tradition and culture to the next generation. A decade ago, a parent was explaining to his kid about Dasavatharam showing the golu doll. The kid refused to accept it pointing out that it doesn’t look like actor Kamal Haasan, referring to his film, Dasavatharam. That’s when we realised that the forthcoming generation is unaware of our culture,” states Amarnath.