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Padmashree
Bhagaban Sahu, an outstanding dance teacher, actor, singer, percussionist,
director, excperimenter and choreographer made his final exit on
August 12, 2002
. Throughout his life, whenever he gave a performance, he danced his way
into the hearts of the audience irrespective of their nationality and
language and become a celebrity. There by he carved out a place for
himself in the cultural history of Orissa.
Bhagaban Sahu is no more and yet his very much present. This
statement may sound paradoxical. But it is true. Though his mortal remains
have been cosumed by fire, his lofty ideal of keeping alive and enriching
the folk dances of Orissa, especially Ganjam district, continued to be a
source of inspiration. The dance forms he perfected with so much
dedication, love and care continue to find expression through the rhythmic
movement of bodies and perfect footwork of his ardent disciples.
 His
long life of eighty years is an amazing story of success, one can't help
wondering about the secret of his success. How could a person born into a
middle-class Oriya Brahmin family become the guest of Queen Elizabeth II ?
How could the individual with formal schooling only up to class VIII rise
to the level of getting admiration of eminent scholars, intellectuals and
Political leaders like Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Radha Krishnan,
Fakiruddin Ali Ahemad, Charan Singh Indira Gandhi, Marshal Tito and
luminaries in other fields ?
Isn't it a wonder that the thunderous drum beat of this simple
villager, who spent most of his life in his native place Badakusasthali,
reverberated across the world and made
the hearts of the audience in London, Spain, Africa, Syre, Bhutan,
Damascus, Abu Dhabi and New Zealand beat in union with it
?
Bhagaban Sahu's tremendous success can be attributes to two factors.
The first decision to select the road not taken by other. Instade of being
satisfied with just giving performance of acting, he undertake the
Herculean task of founding Kala Vikash Kendra at Narendrapur in1954 and
running it efficiently. He took this grate decision as he had been
anguished by the decline of folk dances.
These dances are the spontaneous, powerful expression of the joy
and sorrow, fear and excitement of simple
men and women having close ties with mother earth. Naturally, these
colourful dances began to wither and jade in the rapidly expending
concrete jungles of urban society. Moreover, they faced tough competitions
from another new form of mass entertainment, namely cinema. Therefore
Bhagaban sahu, a man of action, didn't waste time in blaming other for
this sad state of affairs or wallowing in self pity. He took quick steps
to inject life into the folk performing arts on the death bed. To him
survival of great culture, tradition was important. Its perpetuation was
all the more important. Hence he decided to train talented youth in folk
dance and classical music.
Bhagaban sahu had great passion for dance, music and drama right
from his childhood. He was a very talented actor who could breathe life
into well-known characters like Kirtivirjya, Kalapahad and Sambarasura. He
had founded an open air theatre group in his youth itself. In adition to
all this, he had learnt so mush, he was bent on producing befitting heirs
to this great cultural treasure. He yearned to hand over all that he
mastered in dancing to his
successors undergoing training in Kala vikas dendra. The rigorous
rehearsals were a great labour of love for him. Because of his wonderful
vision regarding the folk dances and hard work day in and day out, Kala
Vikas Kendra, the epitome of his ideals and dreams, obtained recognition
(from the central govt. of India) as the International Dance Training
Centre in 1974. It could get
catapulted to International level in just tow decades after its inception
in 1954.
Bhagaban Sahu was man of deep strong conviction this was the second
factor responsible for his extraordinary success . his entire life is an
excellent example of his commitment to himself, he never made any sort of
compromise as far as his goal was concerned. Be it giving up his studies
or undertaking strenuous pilgrimage to Ayodhya, varanasi, Mathura,
Haridwar, Rishikesh and Badrinarayan in
spiritual quest or founding a theatre group or undergoing tyraining in
gymnastics under the tutelage of guru Sri Radha Syam
Das or organizing a circus party in the thirties or performing
dare-devil feats like stopping a motor car while its engine was running,
binding crow bars and riding motor cycle in a wooden globe popularly known
as death well- bhagaban Sahu was guided purely by his own inner voice.
Each and
every project Bhagaban Sahu had undertaken showed his indomitable will and
perseverance. Kala Vikas Kendra being his most favourite brain child, he
nurtured it with great passion, vigour, vitality, enthusiasm and above all
utmost dedication. He had developed tremendous concentration because of
his vigorous trainging in gymnastic and dance as well as regular practice
in mediation. His dedication combined with superb consentration paved the
way for his success in training dances capable of giving excellent
performances in folk performing arts like Ranapa, Chodheya, Gumrah,
DaraBhuja Durga, Loudi, Paika, Jole, Binakar, Panch Badya, Dhumpa,
Mridanga Badya.
 Of
these paika, Chodheya, Ranapa and Rrum dance brought to him recognition at
the national as well as international levels. He become dthe proud
receipient of the president's medal by presenting the vigorous martial
dance paika in the republic Day celebration (1958) in
New Delhi
. By performing the Drum dance with extraordinary agility in the Republic
Day Celebration (1961) he
received special award from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. His reputation as an
artiste reached great hights when performed Chodheya dance in
London
before the spell bound audience and entertained by the Queen in the
Royan
Palace
. Tulasi Samman by Madhya Pradesh Govt (1985) was another feather inhis
cap. This evergreen dancer and great son of Utkal
was honoured by the
Central Govt
of
India
with Kendra sangita Nataka Academy Award (1975)and Padmasri
(1992)
Bhagaban Sahu along with his troupe of artistes participated in a
large number of dance festivals, competitions, and programmes. Performing
RANAPA dance in childrens' film and Dance Festival was an important
milestone in his career. On every occasion, Bhagaban Sabu proved his
artistic excellence and become the mush praised and prized artistic.
Bhagaban
Sahu brought honour and credit not only to himself but also to Orissa. The
soul of this dear departed will rest in peace only when Kala Vikas Kendra
continues to flowish and his disciples get perpetual guidance from his
foot prints left on the sands of time.
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