Debabrata Pal: The Artist Finding Stillness Between Dance, Film, and Ink

We live in a world that's always on the go. Debabrata Pal is telling us that it is okay to slow down. People know Debabrata Pal, for Nrityachitram. This is a way of creating art where dance and painting come together. Debabrata Pal has been working on this for a time. He wants to see how music and colors work together. Debabrata Pal started on the stage with Nrityachitram. Then he went to work on a movie set with Nrityachitram. Now he is writing about Nrityachitram in a book.

Pal was in the movies Bandhkkar and Durgapuja. He got to act with people like Varsha Ushgaonkar and Govind Namdeo who have been doing this for a time. Some people might find it weird to go from performing in front of a lot of people to a few people with cameras.. Pal thought of it as just a different way to move. He said that when you are on a stage you can feel the crowd getting excited.. When you are in front of a camera it is different. The camera makes everything bigger so you have to be careful, with small movements. Pal thinks about the movies Bandhkkar and Durgapuja and how they were a way for him to move. The surprising thing he learned from the movie set was not about acting. It was, about silence. He learned that being quiet is very powerful. This is something he has added to his shows. The movie set taught him the power of silence and being still. Now he uses this in his performances. He uses silence to make his live performances better. The power of silence is something he learned from the movie set. Now he uses it when he performs live.

At the center of everything Pal does is Nrityachitram. The idea of combining dance movements with pictures has been around for a time but Pals way of doing it is really special to him. He thinks that every dance has its set of colors that go along with its beat. Pals work is usually very slow, on purpose. These days people like to look at things that're quick and do not take much time but Pal wants his work to be calm and peaceful so he does it slowly. The man thinks that when things are slow it helps the artist and the person looking at the art to think about what is going on and to feel something. This is a thing that does not happen very often. The artist gets to think. The viewer gets to think too. They both get to feel what is happening in that moment.

Pal has started writing down what he has been through. His books are not like manuals that tell you what to do. They are, like a diary of the hard times he had and how he got better at performing. For Pal performing is something that's over as soon as the show is done.. When he writes people can still read his thoughts and learn from them. Pal likes that his writing can stay around for a time even after he is done performing. For Pal, whether he is holding a brush, wearing dance bells, or sitting at a desk, the goal remains the same: honesty. He isn't interested in being flashy; he simply wants his work to be seen as a real reflection of his life and the traditions he comes from.