For a change it was not a sabha that artistes and dance lovers in Chennai went to. They went to Sathyam Cinemas. March 30 evening. Sree theatre at the Sathyam multiplex, Royapettah, Chennai.

While 'Shall we Dance', 'A Cindrella Story', 'Page Three' and the likes were all also being screened here, what drew arts promoters like Mrs. Y.G.Parthasarathy, Justice Bhaktavatsalam, dancers Anita Ratnam and Astad Deboo, art critics of well known dailies and film director Balu Mahendra to this theatre was 'Pravahi', a film on dancer Alarmel Valli.

The screening was part of 'Lights On', a newly launched monthly event at Sathyam Cinemas. 'Lights On' is a film based forum where artistes from different disciplines of film-making will be featured alongwith their work. The programme aims to create space for audience interface with the artiste focused.

Says Prasanna Ramaswamy who has conceived this event, "'Lights On' is part of Sathyam Cinemas' endeavour to evoke interest and excite an audience about films which are not liberally exhibted in the venues where mainstream cinema is seen."

And on March 30, the first event of 'Lights On' saw the world premiere of 'Pravahi', directed by Pune-based Arun Khopkar. The 30 minute film documents the dance of Alarmel Valli, featuring her performance of a few items from her dance repertoire. The dancer also speaks about her first break in her dance career, her choreography and teaching.

Produced by Films Division, cinematography for 'Pravahi' is by Madhu Ambat and art direction is by Chennai based V.V. Ramani, who also designs sets and costumes for dancers.

The music for Valli's dance features Savita Narasimhan and Latha Ramchand (vocal), C.K. Vasudevan (nattuvangam), Sakthivel Muruganadam (mridangam) and Akkarai Subhalakshmi (violin), Sashidharan (flute) and music composition by Prema Ramamoorthy.

The screening was followed by an audience interface, where Khopkar and Valli shared their experiences in the making of this film. Said Valli, "Very rarely there is an understanding between a film maker and a dancer. And I think Arun understood dance. He did a lot of homework and wanted me to give him line-drawings of each dance movement. I normally hate watching myself on screen, but this time I liked it."

She added, "It is very difficult for a dancer to get into an emotion, come out of it completely, when they are not filming, and get into it again. I learnt how to switch on and switch off and to shift quickly from the world of reality and make believe. Sometimes, I had to repeat the same movement again so many times. It was a different experience."

Said Khopkar, "I wanted to show a dancer from a point of view, which the audience would never have seen." It took six months to make the film and was shot at Valli's house in Chennai.

The film maker does not have nice words for his producer. "NFDC treats films like national secrets. It takes them eight years to sanction a film and you can imagine the rest...".

Earlier, on Sunday morning, 'Sanchari', a film on dancer Leela Samson, directed by Khopkar in 1992, was also screened at Sathyam, alongwith three other short films by the director.

Lights On' is scheduled on Wednesdays, once a month. For more info, contact Prasanna Ramaswamy at prasanna@sathyamcinemas.com