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Chitrangada — Description
I collaborated with Madhur Gupta (as Chitrangada) and Lingaraj Pradhan (as Arjun) recently to make a photo series on Rabindranath Tagore's dance drama based on the love story of Chitrangada and Arjun influenced by folk narratives based on the Mahabharat.

Madhur had this idea of highlighting the feminine and masculine form of an Odissi male dancer in a performance.

The plot :
Chitrangada,the princess of Manipur was raised as a boy,and trained to be a warrior by her father, who had always wanted a son.

She fell in love with Arjun, but could never confess her love to him, for he had mistaken her for a man.

Chitrangada seeked the blessings from the god of love, Madan, and transformed into a beautiful woman

She approached Arjun and he fell in love with her.

After a while Chitrangada revealed the truth about her transformation. Arjun is shocked, but asks her to return to her real form, as he loves her for who she is, not who she pretends to be. Chitrangada begs Madan to return her to her original form and Arjun loves her even more.

This is a candid in-between the shots picture