I am in love with the story of Shiva and Parvathi: Rukmini Vijaykumar

Danseuse, choreographer and actor Rukmini Vijayakumar has spent the last five years exploring the story of Shiva and Parvathi in different formats of choreography. “There was the choreography of Swami Naan Undan Adimai Varnam, then a contemporary format in Unrequited and now, in Srishti, which is a seven-episode dance film. None of them are even remotely similar in approach but they are inspired by the same story of shiva puranam,” she says.
“I decided to make dance films because I did not want to share videos of my stage performances. The things you can convey in a shared physical space are very different from what it is when watched on video. It really doesn't have the same impact,” she says.
Shiva and Parvati are not separate entities
Of the 40-minute-long series was filmed across three days in the Himalayas. “Shristi explores the philosophy of oneness. Shiva is the un-manifest, all-pervasive intelligence inherent in all creation and Parvathi is the universe, the material world, and all of creation. In our experience of this world, we presume that Shiva and Parvathi are separate entities. We draw lines between ourselves. We see the gender divide, age divide, caste, class, and country divide. The film tries to convey that all of us are essentially the same, that we are all part of the same fabric of creation,” she says.