Friends,
It was a great relief for Sutra Team that the final leg of our exhibition, ‘Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom’ (after its India tour of Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Pune & New Delhi) went off splendidly on 25 April, 2026 at the spacious One Bangsar Gallery.
The exhibition (of more than 130 works by 21 artists of Chennai, Bhubaneswar & Kuala Lumpur) is a tribute to the late Odia painter & scholar, Dr Dinanath Pathy. The works are inspired by Odissi’s presence in Malaysia. The exhibition somewhat represented the culmination of Sutra’s recent burst of Odissi-related activities. Apart from the massive exhibition, the activities included the performance of Radhe! Radhe! and screening of Radha Unbound: The Making & Touring of Radhe! Radhe! (directed by Rabby Deyan) that have been stirring KL in the recent weeks.
More than 30 Sutra Odissi dancers set the evening ablaze with a celebratory festive atmosphere with a compelling performance, a reconfigured work of the late guru Debaprasad’s classic, Kolabati Pallavi. The re-imagined Pallavi sent the multi-layered message of the evening – of the interconnection of the visual art with dance; of the seniors
‘letting go’ of the heritage legacy to the youth; and fundamentally, of arts transcending national boundaries, ethnicity and religion and much more.
The night was given the right contextualisation by HE Shri BN
Reddy, High Commissioner of India to Malaysia. One of the most hard working and beloved diplomats in Malaysia, Reddy spoke of the decades of dedication and tenacity that went behind the planting of Odissi’s healthy presence in Malaysia, and how there has always been a continuous flow of this creative cultural link since time immemorial! (Surely, we shall miss Reddy Sir when his term soon ends!)
Elegant philanthropic couple, Dato’ Sri Vijay Eswaran and Datin Sri Umayal Eswaran, lent panache to the evening together with Tan Sri Palani, Smt Vijayalakshmi Sunderrajan (Director of NSCBICC), Shri Prabhakaran Nair (M-IH Society), Chef Jessie Nathan (Champur) & Chef Adu (Adu Sugar), Zaridah Mallik (DiDance), art collector Rajee Alagendra and a host of arts aficionados of Kuala Lumpur.
The audiences were amazed how curator/artist Sivarajah Natarajan has transformed the venue of One Bangsar into an evocative space of visual art.
Sutra would like to express its appreciation to all the artists and the team, both in India and Malaysia for this amazing collaboration, which is a shared passion for Dance that transcend race and boundaries.
‘Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom’ will be on in
ONE Bangsar until 03 May (11am to 6pm).
There will be a screening of Rabby Deyan’s Docu-film Radha Unbound and In-Conversation with the artists of LaTFB (Syed Tajudeen, Sivarajah Natarajan, Vasanthi Naidu, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, Eric Peris), moderated by Vernon Adrian Emuang on 29 April 2026 at ONE Bangsar.
Don’t miss this chance to enhance your appreciation of the interconnection of Dance, Visual Arts and Film.
Sutra.